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Columbia SlnitJer^ttp 
 
 LIBRARY 
 
 GIVEN BY 
 
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VINDICATION 
 
 OP THE 
 
 CHARACTER AND WRITINGS 
 
 OF THE HONOURABLE 
 
 EMANUEIL SWMBEMBOIRG., 
 
 AGAINST THE 
 
 SLANDERS AND MISREPRESENTATIONS 
 
 OF 
 
 THE REV. J. G. PIKE, OF DERBV. 
 
 INCI.DDING 
 
 A REFUTATION OF THE FALSE REPORTS 
 
 PROPAGATED BY 
 
 THE I-ATE REV. JOHN WESI.EY, 
 
 Respecting Uie same Pious and Illastrious Author. 
 
 WITH 
 
 BRIEF IREMARIKS 
 
 ON THE 
 
 RASH CENSURE PRONOUNCED ON BARON SWEDENBORC 
 
 AND HIS WRITINGS 
 
 BY THE EDITORS OF THE 
 
 EVANGEIilCAI. MAGAZINE. 
 
 •I saw THREE UNCLEAN SPIRITS, like FROGS, come out of the Mouth of the 
 Dragon, and ont of the Mouth of the Beast, and out of the Month of the False 
 Prophet." Apoc. xvi. 13. 
 
 ' And I heard a loud Voice, saying in Heaven, Now is come Salvation, and Stiength, and the 
 Kingdom of our God, and the Power of his Christ : for the ACCUSER of our Brethren 
 is cast down, who accused them before our God Day and Night." Apoc. xii. 10. 
 
 By ROBERT HINDMARSH, 
 
 Minister of the New Jorusalera .Tempi®, 3/yltda-Sfre<^t, >^ajford, Manchester. 
 
 irf^ 
 
 Printed by A. &. R. SMITH,- St. •Aun's-Square; 
 
 And Sold by Messrs. Clarke and Co. in the Market-Plaoe ; and in Loudon, by 
 
 H. C. HODSON, Cross-Street, Hatton-Gaiden ; and by T. GoYPER, 
 
 James-Street, Buckingham-Gate, Westiainster. 
 
 1021=:65. 
 
Siyy 3 36 3 
 
 Apr. 5,, 1939 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 B»-3e-ee 
 
 PAGE 
 
 c^ Preface 9 
 
 i SECTION I. 
 
 <^ 
 
 1. Introduction, containing some general Remarks on 
 
 ^ the Opposition made to the Heavenly Doctrines of 
 
 "o the Neio Jerusalem, hy different Individuals. — 
 
 2. A Refutation of the false Reports propagated 
 
 hy the late Rev. John Wesley, in his Arminian 
 
 Magazine 17 
 
 SECTION II. 
 
 1. Answer to the Objection, that Swedenborg gives no 
 Proof of his being a divine Messenger hy the 
 Performance of Miracles. — 2. Nor hy the Pre- 
 diction of future Events 24 
 
 SECTION III. 
 
 1. Whether a new Revelation was or was not to he 
 expected. — 2. Fornication and Adultery falsely 
 supposed to he allowable hy Swedenborg. — 3. A 
 distinct Heaven for Mahometans, and Plurality 
 of Wives. — 4. Devils and Angels once Men. — 
 5. Calvinists said to he driven out of Heaven, 
 and to have Churches in Hell. — 6. Satans said 
 to plunder the Heavens. — 7. Married People 
 quarrel in the other World. — 8. Dutchmen said 
 A 2 to 
 
4 CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGE 
 to live on one Side of the Street in Heaven, and 
 
 their Wives on the other. — 9. Tables said to he 
 in Heaven for bursting in Explosions on those 
 ivho lay too much Stress on Faith. — 10. Errors 
 in Heaven. — 11. Effects of the Baptism of In- 
 fants. — 12. The Lord appears in Heaven as a 
 Sun before the right Eye, and as a Moon before 
 the left 32 
 
 SECTION IV. 
 
 1. The spiritual Sense of the Word heretofore not 
 knoivn in the Church. — 2. How far the Apostles 
 were acquainted with that Sense 61 
 
 SECTION V. 
 
 1. Swedenborg charged with denying the Inspiration of 
 a great Part of the Divine Word. — 2. And 
 icith rejecting the Apostolic Writings Q^ 
 
 SECTION VI. 
 
 The spiritual Signification of certain Expressions in 
 the Sacred Scriptures, such as, 1. The Tree of 
 Life. — 2. The Tree of the Knowledge of Good 
 and Evil.—S. The Number Ten.— 4.. The Num- 
 ber Tivelve.—5. Noah's Ark.~-6. The Flood.— 
 7. Husband and Wife. — 8. Fowls and Birds. — 
 9. The Terms Jehovah and God. — 10. Money. 
 — 11. Virgins and Women. — 12. The Lord's 
 Coming in the Clouds of Heaven with Power 
 and Glory. — 13. The Lord in Man, and Man 
 in the Lord. — 14. Cain and Abel. — 15. The 
 Destruction of the ivicked by Jehovah 75 
 
 SEC- 
 
CONTENTS. 5 
 
 PAGE 
 
 SECTION VII. 
 
 1. The Lord as a Sun above the Angelic Heavens. — 2. 
 A Divine Trinity, not of Persons, hut of Essen- 
 tials in One Person. — 3. The Lord became the 
 Word even in ifs Ultimates 94 
 
 SECTION VIII. 
 
 1. A Denial of the Divine Omnipotence falsely imputed 
 to Sivedenborg. — 2. A supposed Contradiction 
 on this Head cleared up Ill 
 
 SECTION IX. 
 
 1. God is not that angry, vindictive, and relentless 
 Being, which Mr. Pike and many others take 
 him to he, in Consequence of not understanding 
 his Word. — 2. Comparison hetiveen Mr. Pike's 
 God, and the God of Emanuel Swedenborg , . . . 119 
 
 SECTION X. 
 
 1. Redemption, how understood by the Old Church, 
 and how by the New. — 2. Angels redeemed, as 
 well as Men. — 3. The ivhole Angelic Heaven, 
 together with the Church on Earth, is before the 
 Lord as a single Man. — 4. Bearing Iniquities 
 not the Removal of the^n, but a Representation 
 of the Profanation of the Truths of the Word. 
 — 5. An Angel let (not led, as Mr. Pike has 
 misrepresented the Expression,) into his former 
 Sins 125 
 
 SECTION XI. 
 
 1. The Resurrection, how understood by the Old 
 Church, and how by the New ; proving, that 
 
 Man 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Man rises immedialehj after Death with his 
 spiritual Body, and not luith his natural or ma- 
 terial Body. — 2. The Difficulties and Absurdi- 
 ties attending the Resurrection of the material 
 Body, tcith Respect to it's Identity. — 3. The 
 Doctrine of Paul on the Resurrection 146 
 
 SECTION XII. 
 
 1. T%e absurd and ridiculous Notions, which prevail 
 concerning the Last Judgment. — 2. The State 
 of Man after Death. — 3. The true scriptural 
 Doctrine of the Last Judgment; shewing, that 
 the Judgment irredicted in the Gospels, and in 
 the Apocalypse, is already accomplished in the 
 spiritual World.— -i:. The particular Judgment 
 of Individuals after Death. — 5. The supposed 
 Destruction of the Heavens and the Earth by 
 Fire, a gross Error, arising from Ignorance of 
 the Meaning of the Term Fire, as used in the 
 Sacred Scriptures 160 
 
 SECTION XIII. 
 
 1. The Second Coming of the Lord, though expected 
 by many to be in Person, is proved to be in 
 Spirit, that is, in the Opening of his Holy 
 Word. — 2. And such Second Coming is effected 
 through the Instrumentality of Emanuel Swe- 
 denborg 176 
 
 SECTION XIV. 
 
 1. Stvedenborg falsely charged with being an Encou- 
 rager of Vice, and giving his Sanction to For- 
 nication, Concubinage, and Adultery, because he 
 discriminates between their relative Degrees of 
 
 Evil. 
 
N 
 
 CONTENTS. 7 
 
 PAGE 
 Evil. — 2. Female Prostitution. — 3. Indelicacies 
 of Language and Idea. — ^4. The probable Reason 
 why in the Word such frequent Mention is made 
 of the Intercourse between the Sexes, and of 
 those Parts of the human Body, which are dedi- 
 cated to that Office 186 
 
 SECTION XV. 
 
 1. The Rise and Progress of the Mahometan Religion 
 under the Guidance of the Divine Providence of 
 the Lord. — 2. The Difference between the mere 
 external Gratif cation of the Senses, as held out 
 by Mahomet to his Followers, and the pure Joys 
 and Delights of Heaven, which are described by 
 Raron Swedenborg 204 
 
 SECTION XVL 
 
 I. Purgatory. — 2. Vastation in the other Life. — 3. The. 
 intermediate State and Place between Heaven 
 and Hell, called the World of Spirits 213 
 
 SECTION XVII. 
 
 1. The Place of Punishment, or Hell. — 2. Descrip- 
 Hon of Hell, as a State. — 3. The Inhabitants 
 of Heaven, as well as of Hell, are all of the 
 human Race. — 4. Evil Spirits represented as dis- 
 turbing Heaven. — 5. The wicked go voluntarily 
 to Hell, and infernal Spirits have their Delights. 
 — 6. Some are in Hell, and yet do not know they 
 are there » 229 
 
 SECTION XVIII. 
 
 1. Heavenly Joy supposed by many to consist in per- 
 petually worshipping and glorifying God in an 
 external Manner, which yet is a Thing impos- 
 sible. 
 
8 CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGE 
 sible. — 2. What is truly meant by praying al- 
 ways, and hy incessant Glorification. — 3. Angels 
 not perfectly pure. — 4. Administrations , Offices, 
 Employments, and Trades in Heaven. — 5. Mar- 
 riages in Heaven 250 
 
 SECTION XIX. 
 
 A scriptural View of the Rise, Progress, and future 
 Perfection of the New Church, called the New 
 Jerusalem 266 
 
 SECTION XX. 
 
 Brief Remarks on the rash Censure passed on Baron 
 Swedenhorg and his Writings hy the Editors of 
 the Evangelical Magazine 269 
 
 SECTION XXI. 
 
 Chief Articles of the Faith of the New Church, called 
 
 the Neio Jerusalem, 280 
 
 PREFACE, 
 
( 9 ) 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 XXAVING been repeatedly called upon by many 
 individuals, and at length formally requested by 
 a General Conference of the ministers and other 
 members of the New Church, called the New Jeru- 
 salem, held at Derby in August, 1820=64, to reply 
 to a pamphlet lately published by the Rev. J. G. 
 Pike, of Derby, entitled, " Swedenborgianism de- 
 picted in it's true Colours ; or a Contrast betiveen 
 the Holy Scriptures and the Writings of Baron Swe- 
 denborg, on a Variety of important Subjects;' on 
 mature reflection, and considering that an humble 
 endeavour to remove unworthy prejudices from the 
 minds of the upright and sincere, may prove bene- 
 ftcial to society, I am induced to undertake the fol- 
 lowing plain and honest Vindication of an author, 
 whose writings on theological subjects may be truly 
 pronounced to be the most rational, the most con- 
 sistent, and the most scriptural, that have ever yet 
 appeared in the world since the days of primitive 
 Christianity. In performing this duty, I trust I am 
 influenced purely by the love of truth and justice, 
 Jiaving no desire to injure or offend an antagonist, 
 who it is possible may be conscientiously, though 
 ignorantiy, engaged in the support of what he be- 
 lieves to be the truth of revelation; though it must be 
 acknowledged, that in too many instances he has 
 betrayed a spirit of malevolence, sarcasm, and per- 
 
 B secution, 
 
10 PREFACE. 
 
 secution, by no means consistent with the character 
 of an upright Christian, much less of a minister of 
 the gospel of Jesus Christ. 
 
 Many of the charges, which Mr. Pike has 
 urged against the Baron and his writings, ^are al- 
 together unfounded ; others are shamefully misre- 
 presented ; and some, it is admitted, are fairly 
 stated, yet not with the view of doing justice to 
 the authors sentiments, but in the way of scorn 
 and contempt. These latter, however, so far from 
 containing matter of a reprehensible character, or 
 in any respect unworthy of universal reception, are 
 on the contrary highly creditable to the discern- 
 ment of that great man, who in the midst of so 
 many errors, which prevail in the Christian world, 
 was enabled to discover the truth, and to confirm 
 it by the undoubted testimony of divine revelation. 
 It may therefore be regarded as a proof of the su- 
 perintending care of the Divine Providence over 
 the rising fortunes of the New Church, that even 
 it's bitterest enemies are, in a way never calculated 
 upon by themselves, made to contribute to the cir- 
 culation of doctrines, which they are most anxious 
 to suppress. 
 
 Mr. Pike having, in his introduction, referred 
 to some idle tales, which never had any founda- 
 tion in truth, it has been thought proper to com- 
 mence the following work with an authentic refuta- 
 tion of the false reports propagated by the late Mr. 
 John Wesley, in his Arminian Magazine, against 
 the personal character and conduct of Baron Swe- 
 denborg. The writer of these pages did himself 
 visit the very man, Mr. Brockmer, from whom Mr. 
 
 Wesley 
 
PREFACE. 11 
 
 Wesley is said to have received his information: 
 and he expressly denied having ever communicated 
 with Mr. Wesley on the subject, or that the Baron, 
 while at his house, was ever afflicted with any in- 
 firmity either of body or mind. 
 
 Towards the close of the work is introduced 
 a scriptural view of the rise, progress, and future 
 perfection of tlie New Church ; which is followed 
 by a few remarks on the rash censure pronounced 
 on Baron Swedenborg and his writings by the Edi- 
 tors of the Evangelical Magazine, who, assuming 
 that the report made of them by Mr. Pike may be 
 depended upon for it's truth and accuracy, have 
 not only condemned what they never took the 
 pains to read and understand for themselves, but 
 have charged the members of the New Church 
 with being both Sabellians and Socinians. That 
 they do not, however, come within the description 
 of either of those denominations, will be at once 
 seen by comparing their peculiar tenets with the 
 doctrines taught by Emanuel Swedenborg. 
 
 Lastly, for the information of those, who are 
 unacquainted with the Baron's writings, and to 
 guard them against being imposed upon by the 
 misrepresentations and false reports of interested 
 individuals, who find it easier to accuse and abuse 
 an author, than to confute him, the chief articles 
 of the faith of the New Church, called the New 
 Jerusalem, are annexed as a conclusion to the 
 whole work. 
 
 ROBERT HINDMARSH. 
 
 Manchester, Aug, 8, 1821=65. 
 
 b2 
 
EXPLANATION OF THE MOTTO. 
 
 " / saw three unclean spirits, like frogs, come out of the mouth of the dragon, and 
 out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet." 
 Apoc. xvi. 13. 
 
 " And I heard a loud voice, saying in heaven, Noiv is come salvation, and. strettgth, 
 ■and tlte kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ : for the accuser of 
 our brethren is cast down, who accused them before our God day and night,' 
 Apoc. xii. 10. 
 
 I. By the dragon is signified the acknowledgment of three divine persons, or, 
 which is the same thing, three Gods, and of justification or salvation by faith alone, 
 together with all such persons in the church, particularly in the Protestant or Re- 
 formed church, as make that acknowledgment in doctrine and in life. By the beast, 
 whfch in this case is the beast rising up out of the sea, chap. xiii. 1, are signified 
 the men of the external church, or the laity in general, who confirm themselves 
 in the same acknowledgment and faith. And by the false prophet, or beast rising 
 up out of the earth, which spake as a dragon, and exercised all the power of the 
 first beast before him, doing great wonders, and deceiving them that dwell on the 
 earth, chap. xiii. 11 to 15, are signified the men of the internal church, or the 
 clergy in general, who teach and maintain the doctrines above alluded to. The 
 mouth of the dragon, beast, and false prophet, evidently denotes their doctrine, 
 preaching, and discourse. By unclean spirits are signified lusts, or impure aiTections 
 and desires, in this case the lusts of falsifying and perverting truths ; and hj frogs, 
 to which they are compared, are meant reasonings from such lusts. The number 
 three, as a complete number, denotes all, likewise altogether and merely : thus 
 when applied to unclean spirits resembling frogs, it denotes mere reasonings from 
 an evil and disorderly state of mind, on the part of all such as come under th« 
 above description. 
 
 II. By the loud voice, which was beard in heaven, saying, " Now is come 
 salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ," 
 is signified joy among the angels of heaven, that the Lord alone reigns in heaven 
 and the church, and that Ihej' who believe in him, and keep his commandments, 
 will be saved. The term Gofl denotes the essential Divinity, called the Father ; 
 and the term Christ, the Divine Humanity, called the Son, both constituting one 
 divine person, as the soul and body constitute one man. By the accuser of our 
 brethren being cast down, who accused them before our God day and night, is 
 signified the overthrow and removal of those, who are understood by the dragon, 
 and who in the spiritual world were heretofore continually opposing the doctrines 
 of the New Jerusalem, and condemning them as contrary to the Word. The same 
 effect in it's degree is now taking place in the natural world : for since the doctrines 
 of the New Church have become known, and been received in heart and life by 
 those who have long been seduced by the artful reasonings of false teachers, the 
 power of these latter over the minds of many pious and sincere Christians is com- 
 paratively crushed, and the everlasting gospel of the new kingdom of our Lord 
 is preached on every side. The accuser of the brethren denotes all those, who, 
 under a pretence of great piety, and zeal for religion, stigmatize the members of 
 the New Church as enemies to the truth : and as they endeavour to make this ap- 
 pear by continually appealing to the literal sense of the Word, falsely understood, 
 they are therefore said to accuse them day and night before God, God and bis 
 Word being oue, John i. 1. 
 
VINDICATION, & 
 
 C. 
 
 SECTION I. 
 
 IntrodiictAon, containing some general Remarks 
 on the Oppositio7i made to the heavenly Doctrines 
 of the New Jerusalem hy different Individuals. — 
 2. A Refutation of the false Reports propagated 
 hy the late Rev. John Wesley, in his Arminian 
 Magazine, 
 
 1. INTRODUCTION. 
 
 JLT is clearly predicted in the Sacred Writings, that when- 
 soever the state or dispensation understood by the name of the 
 New Jerusalem should take place on earth, it would meet 
 with a decided opposition on the part of those, who, like the 
 Pharisees of old, make a loud profession of religion, and con- 
 ceive themselves to be already in possession of so high a 
 degree of light, as to need no further instruction. The dragon 
 is represented as persecuting the woman, or New Church, 
 who brought forth a male child, casting water out of his 
 mouth as a flood against her, and afterwards making war with 
 the remnant of her seed, who keep the commandments of 
 God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ: see Apoc. xii. 
 13 to 17. It is therefore neither surprizing nor unexpected, 
 that the advocates of a perverted and fallen church should 
 now take the alarm, on finding their respective systems de- 
 tected and assailed by the superior light and power of divine 
 truth ; and that they should endeavour, though in vain, even 
 
 c bv 
 
W A VINDICATION OF 
 
 by misrepresentation, calumny, and fallacious reasonings, in 
 the room of fair argiiment, to arrest the progress of doctrines, 
 Avhicli they either do not understand, or which they have 
 reason to dread as subversive of their own irrational, un 
 scriptural, and delusive faith. 
 
 Among the numerous opponents of the Nev/ Church, 
 that have already sprung up from the different sects, only one 
 luis been found to act the part of a generous enemy ; and that 
 one was the late Dr. Priestley, who never attempted to scan- 
 dalize the memory of Baron Swedenborg, by applying to him 
 the epithets of madman, lunatic, impostor, &c. The gen- 
 tleman, however, who now stands forward as an accuser of 
 the most virtuous of men, hesitates not to follow the track of 
 his predecessors in scurrility, and, after the example of the 
 late Mr. John Wesley and others, to prefer charges against 
 both Swedenborg and his writings, which have no foundation 
 whatever in truth, but appear to be fictions invented by envy 
 or malice, and propagated for no other end than to discredit 
 the testimony of an author, who for piety, learning, and 
 soundness of doctrine, has never yet been exceeded by any 
 writer ancient or modern. Because there have been impostors 
 in the world, Mr. Pike seems to argue, that therefore Swe- 
 denborg must be one ! Because some have pretended, that 
 they maintained an open communication with the spiritual 
 world, and their pretensions have not been justified either by 
 the importance or the utility of their alleg-ations, it is inferred, 
 that therefore the declarations of Swedenborg are to be re- 
 garded as the mere eflusions of a warm imagination, or as 
 the ravings of a disordered mind ! Such is the logic, the 
 kind of argument, with which Mr. Pike introduces his re- 
 marks on what he is pleased to call " Swedenborg ianism" and 
 so little is he acquainted with the true character of the man, 
 whom he attempts to vilify, or with the real merits of the 
 doctrines, which he undertakes to confute, that he flounders 
 at almost every step of his progress, and gives ample proof as 
 well of his ignorance of the subject on which he writes, as of 
 the illiberal spirit by which he is actuated. 
 
 With 
 
EMANUEL SWEDENCORG S WRITINGS. 19 
 
 With respect to the silly tales, which have been most in- 
 dustriously circulated about Swedenborg* by his enemies, such 
 as that detailed by Mr. Pike from Mr. Liudsey, who again 
 had it from a third person, who is staled to have been walking- 
 in the streets with the Baron, and to have witnessed him pay- 
 ing his obeysance to Moses ; as they appear to be mere in- 
 ventions for the purpose of exciting merriment, or throwing 
 ridicule on the character of one of the best and wisest of man- 
 kind, they are utterly unworthy of a serious answer. The 
 charge is anonymous ; and as there are no means of tracing it 
 to it's real author, it can only be ranked among those idle 
 reports, which little minds delight to spread, without any 
 regard to their truth or falsehood. But as Mr. Pike alludes 
 also to a story related by Mr. Wesley in his Arminian Maga- 
 zine, and afterwards reprinted and circulated very extensively 
 among the Methodists, I can of my own personal knowledge 
 prove that to be altogether groundless and false. 
 
 2. REFUTATION OF THE FALSE REPORTS PllOPAGATED 
 BY i\JR. WESLEY. 
 
 Mr. Wesley asserts in his Arminian Magazine for August 
 ]783, p. 438, that he was informed by one Mr. Brockmer, of 
 London, and also by Mr. Mathesius, a Swedish clergyman, 
 that Baron Swedenborg, while he lodged at the house of the 
 former, " had a violent fever, in the height of which, being 
 totally delirious, he broke from Mr. Brockmer, ran into the 
 street stark naked, proclaimed himself the Messiak, and rolled 
 himself in the mire." Being desirous of ascertaining the truth 
 or falsehood of this story from Mr. Erockmer's own mouth, I 
 made it my business, in company with three other gentlemen 
 now deceased, to wait upon him at his apartments in Fetter- 
 Lane, and to ask him whether he had ever communicated to 
 Mr. Wesley, or to any other person, such information as 
 above stated, at the same time shewing him the different 
 Numbers of the Magazine, in which the reports published by 
 Mr. Wesley were contained. After hearing the passages 
 read, ]\;lr. Brockmer without hesitation denied tjie fact, posi- 
 
 c 2 tivelv 
 
20 A VINDICATION OF 
 
 lively declaring', " that he had never opened his mouth on the 
 subject to Mr. Wesley, nor had he ever given such an accouni 
 to any other person :" and he seemed much displeased, that 
 Mr. Wesley should have taken the liberty to make use of hi.s 
 name in public print, without his kno\v!edge or consent. 
 " Baron Swedenborg (said he) was never atflicted with any 
 illness, much less with a violent fever, v/hile at my house : 
 nor did he ever break from me in a delirious state, and run 
 into the street stark naked, and there proclaim himself the 
 Messiah, as Mr. Wesley has unjustly represented. But per- 
 haps he may have heard a report to that effect from some 
 other person; and it is well known, that Mr- Wesley is a very 
 credulous man, and easily to he imposed upon by any idle 
 tale, from whatever quarter it may come." 
 
 I tiien put the following' question to Mr. Brockmer : 
 * Supposing" it to be true, that Baron Swedenborg did actually 
 see and converse with angels and spirits, did you ever observe 
 any thing in his behaviour, that might not naturally be ex- 
 pected on such an extraordinary occasion V He replied as 
 follows : " If I believed that to be true, I should not wonder 
 at any thing he said or did ; l)Mt should rather wonder, that 
 the surprize and astonishment, which he must have felt on 
 such an occasion, did not betray him into more unguarded 
 expressions than were ever known to escape him: for he did 
 and said nothing, but what I could easily account for in my 
 own mind, if I really believed what he declares in his writings 
 to be true." 
 
 It is to be observed, that Mr. Brockmev was one of the 
 people called Moravians, who are by no means friendly to the 
 doctrines of the New Church, as laid down in the writings of 
 Baron Swedenborg. The testimony, therefore, of such a 
 man in favour of the equable and becoming deportment of his 
 noble lodger, and to the silencing of those unfounded reports, 
 to which Mr, Wesley (once an admirer of Swedenborg atid 
 his writings, but afterwards an avowed enemy to both,) so 
 hastily and unworthily lent himself, must be received with 
 due respect by every candid and unprejudiced mind. 
 
 K 
 
EMANUEL SWEDENBOKGS WRITINGS. *21 
 
 It appears, then, that the report of Baron Swedenborg's 
 having- been seized with a fever, in the height of which he 
 broke from Mr. Brockmer, ran into the street naked, and 
 proclaimed himself the Messiah, is totally false. But even 
 supposing- it to be true, that he once had a fever accompanied 
 with delirium, an affliction to which the wisest and best of 
 men are subject, what has this to do with the general tenour 
 of his writings, composed while he was in perfect health? Js 
 the character of a man to be estimated by what he says or 
 does in such a state? Would Mr. Wesley, Mr. Pike, or any 
 other person, wish to be judged in this way ? But Mr. Pike 
 says, p. 4, that Swedenborg's friends were obliged to ac- 
 knowledge, that he once called himself the Messiah." This 
 is not true : his friends (and I well know to whom the writer 
 alludes under that name) never made any such acknowledg-- 
 ment : and Mr. Pike, with all the assistance he can derive 
 from the anonymous author whom he quotes, is challeng-ed to 
 bring proof of the assertion. 
 
 Mr. Brockmer died a few months after he made the decla- 
 ration above recited : but the Peruke-maker alluded to by Mr. 
 Wesley, namely, Mr. Richard Shearsmith, who lived in Cold 
 Bath Fields, Clerkenwell, and at whose house Swedenborg 
 afterwards lodged and died, survived Mr. Brockmer many 
 years. Him also I well knew, and have often had occasion 
 to speak to him of the character, habits, and manners of the 
 Baron : and he imiformly gave the most unequivocal and 
 honourable testimony concerning him, both with respect to 
 the goodness of his heart, and the soundness of his under- 
 standing^. He declared himself ready to attest (upon oath, if 
 required,) that " from the first day of his coming- to reside at 
 his house, to the last day of his life, he always conducted 
 himself in the most rational, prudent, pious, and christian- 
 like manner : and he was firmly of opinion, that every report 
 injurious to his character had been raised merely from malice, 
 or disaffection to his writings, by persons of a bigotted and 
 contracted spirit." Mr. Shearsmith has been dead now for 
 some years. I saw him not long- before his death ; and he con- 
 tinued 
 
22 A VINDICATION OF 
 
 (inued to bear the same testijuony, which he had so often re- 
 peated ill my liearing during' the course of the thirty years 
 that I had known him. 
 
 The other person, whom Mr, Wesley names as liaving 
 given him the same information as Mr. Brockmer had done, 
 was Mr. Mathesius, a Swedish clergyman. Of the credit 
 du€ to tills Mathesius the following extract of a letter from 
 Christopher Springer, Esq. a Swedish gentleman of distinc- 
 tion then resident in London, and the intimate friend of Baron 
 Swedenborg, will enable the reader to form a just and correct 
 estimate. Speaking of the Barons death, he observes, "AVhen 
 the deceased found his end approaching, and expressed a 
 wish to have the communion administered to him, somebody 
 present at the time proposed sending for Mr. Mathesius, the 
 officiating minister of the Swedish church. This person was 
 known to be a professed enemy of Baron Swedenborg, and 
 had set his face against his writings. It was he that had 
 raised and spread the false account of Baron Swedenborg's 
 having been deprived of his senses. Baron Swedenborg 
 therefore declined taking the sacrament from him, and actual- 
 ly received it from the hands of another ecclesiastic of his 
 own country, named Ferelias, who at that time was a reader 
 of Baron Swedenborg's v/ritings, and is said to have continued 
 to do so ever since, at Stockholm, where he is now living (in 
 1786); and I have been assured that, on this occasion. Baron 
 Swedenborg expressly exhorted him " to continue stedfast in 
 the truth." Mr. Mathesius is said to have become insane 
 himself, a short time after this; and becoming thereby in- 
 capable of his function, has existed ever since, in that melan- 
 choly state, upon the bounty of the King of Sweden." 
 
 What now are we to say of the report first invented by 
 Mr. Mathesius, the Lutheran divine, afterwards propagated by 
 Mr. Wesley, the Arminian divine, and lastly by Mr. Pike, the 
 Baptist divine, but that they each found it the easiest and 
 most convenient argument to be drawn against the heavenly 
 doctrines contained in the writings of Emanuel Swedenborg? 
 When the theologians of former days found themselves unabl^ 
 
 to 
 
E3IANUEL SWEDENBORGS WRITINGS. 'i3 
 
 to withstand the new but powerful doctrines of divine truth 
 delivered by the Saviour of the world, some said, " He is a 
 good man; others said, Nay; but he deceiveth the people" John 
 vii. 12. " He is beside himself" Mark iii. 21. " And many 
 of them said, He hath a devil, and is mad; why hear ye 
 him? But others said, These are not the words of him that 
 hath a devil: can a devil open the eyes of the blind?" John 
 X. 20, 21. Now we know the truth of our Lord's words, 
 when he saith, " The disciple is not above his master, nor the 
 servant above his lord. It is enough for the disciple to be 
 as his master, and the servant as his lord: if they have called 
 the master of the house Beelzebub, how much more shall they 
 call them of his household .'" Matt. x. 24, 25. And again, 
 " The servant is not greater than the lord. If they have 
 persecuted me, they will also persecute you," John xv. 20. 
 In all ages of the church divine truth has been persecuted in 
 the persons of those, who have been it's most strenuous asserters 
 and advocates ; and in general according to the degree in which 
 they have manifested their sincerity, integrity, and faithful- 
 ness in the discharge of their duty, in the same degree have 
 they been subjected to the derision and scorn of the world. 
 It was not therefore to be expected, that Baron Swedenborg, 
 the distinguished and devoted servant of his Lord, would 
 escape the malevolent and bitter attacks of his enemies, who 
 either through ignorance of the doctrines he taught, or through 
 envy at their success, are disposed to treat the disciple in the 
 same ungenerous manner as their predecessors of old had 
 treated his Divine Master. But as Michael the archangel, in 
 disputing with the devil about the body of Moses, (the his- 
 torical sense of the Word,) durst not bring against him a 
 railing accusation, so it is the duty of those, who are engaged 
 in the defence of a good cause, to imitate so illustrious an 
 example, and to leave all judgment to him who cannot err. 
 
 Having made these observations on Mr. Pike's personal 
 attack on Baron Swedenborg, I shall now proceed to the ex- 
 amination of his charges against the testimony as well as the 
 doctrines contained in his writings. These are arranged 
 
 under 
 
24 A VINDICATION OF 
 
 under twenty distinct heads ; and though the greater part of 
 them have been repeatedly answered and refuted by different 
 writers in defence of the New Jerusalem, yet, as they are 
 again brought forward under the specious pretext of vindicat- 
 ing the cause of Christianity, and supporting the interests of 
 it's professors, whether they be Churchmen or Dissenters, 
 Arminians or Calvinists, it may be advisable to meet those 
 charges on the present occasion, and to demonstrate, that 
 they are in general founded in error, and a total misappre- 
 hension both of the language and the true sense of divine re- 
 velation. 
 
 SECTION II. 
 
 1. Answer to the Objection, that Sivedenhorg gives 
 no Proof of his being a divine Messenger by the 
 Performance of Miracles. — 2. Nor by the Pre- 
 diction of future Events. 
 
 1. PERFORMANCE OF MIRACLES. 
 
 J. HE first objection or charge, which Mr. Pike brings 
 against the authority and credibility of Baron Swedeoborg, is, 
 p. 5, " that he has given no proofs that he was a divine mes- 
 senger, either by working miracles, or by predicting any con- 
 siderable events that have since taken place in the world." 
 
 This objection, particularly that part of it which is found- 
 ed on the want of miracles, has already been so fully answered 
 and refuted in the author's Letters to Dr. Priestley, from p. 7 
 to 75, and in his Compendium of the Chief Doctrines of the 
 True Christian Religion, from p. 122 to 126, that further 
 arguments to shew it's weakness cannot surely be required by 
 any who have read those works. But as others, who have 
 not had an opportunity of consulting them, may possibly con- 
 sider the objection of some importance, I will endeavour, in 
 
 as 
 
EMANUEL SWEDENBORG S WRITINGS. 25 
 
 as brief a manner as possible, to stale the substance of what 
 is there delivered. 
 
 And first of all let it be observed, that if the want of 
 miracles, in the case of a person professing to have a divine 
 commission, prove any thing at all, it proves too much, that 
 is to say, too much for the party bringing the objection : for 
 by such an argument he will be under the necessity of denying 
 the divine mission of many of the acknowledged prophets, as 
 well as of John the Baptist, whom our Lord represents as the 
 greatest of all. It is a remarkable circumstance, that of the 
 sixteen prophets who give names to different books in the 
 Old Testament, the twelve last performed no miracles what- 
 ever, and yet they have been uniformly received as messengers 
 from heaven by Christians as well as Jews. Will Mr. Pike 
 charge the want of miracles upon those prophets as a proof 
 that they were impostors ? Will he on that account deny, 
 that they have any claims to a divine commission? Surely 
 he must have paid but little attention to this part of his 
 subject, or he would not have ventured to assert, as he has 
 done in p. 5, that " the prophets of the Old Testament were 
 proved to be messengers from God by the wonderful miracles 
 which they performed." 
 
 What miracle did John the Baptist perform, to con- 
 vince the Jews that he was charged with a divine commission? 
 that he was vested with the authority of a prophet? yea, 
 as our Lord himself expresses it, of more tlhan a prophet t 
 It is expressly written, " John did no miracle ; but all things 
 that John spake of this man (Jesus), were true. And many 
 believed on him there," John x. 41, 42. Miracles, then, in 
 the case of John the Baptist, were not necessary to justify 
 his pretensions ; neither was his testimony concerning the 
 Messiah less effectual by reason of their absence ; for by 
 virtue of the truth alone it produced conviction in the minds 
 of many of his hearers, and caused them to believe on the 
 name of the Lord : a proof this that rational evidence is 
 superior to the most miraculous displays of power. 
 
 D If 
 
26 A VINDICATION OF 
 
 If we look into the history of the Jewish or Israelitish 
 people, as recorded in the Old and New Testaments, we 
 shall find, that the effect prodiwed on their minds by miracles 
 was not a i-ational conviction of divine truth, but a mere 
 superficial impression, which awed them for the moment into 
 a kind of external acquiescence and acknowledgment, that 
 the power competent to perform those wonders was super- 
 natural. By this sentiment of fear, which rather stupified 
 than awakened their rational faculties, they were urged to 
 the observance of the various ceremonies peculiar to their 
 religion, especially to the worship of Jehovah, from which 
 however they were continually declining into open acts of 
 idolatry. Although they had seen so many miracles in Egypt, 
 and afterwards the red sea divided; the Egyptians immersed 
 therein ; the pillar of a cloud going before them by day, and 
 a pillar of fire by night ; manna daily rained down from 
 heaven for their particular use, and water gushing out of the 
 rock as soon as it was smitten by the i*od of Moses ; and al- 
 though they had seen mount Sinai altogether enveloped in 
 smoke, when Jehovah descended upon it in fire, in the midst 
 of supernatural thunderings, lightnings, and the loud sound 
 of a trumpet ; and had heard the voice of Jehovah speaking 
 from the mountain, with other most extraordinary tokens of 
 the divine presence and power ; yet how soon did they forget 
 those wonders, and turn to the worship of a senseless calf, 
 the workmanship of their own hands ! 
 
 The same infidelity and hardness of heart continued with 
 their posterity through everj' period of their history. Hence 
 neither the miracles of their prophets, nor even those of the 
 Lord himself, when he appeared among them, had the effect 
 of changing their character, or inspiring them witli any tiling 
 like a pure and genuine faith. It is therefore written of 
 them, that, " though he had done so many miracles before 
 tbem, yet they believed not on hi7n" John xii. 37. 
 
 It is evident, therefore, that miracles have no such power, 
 as many ascribe to them, of convincing the understanding, 
 or producing in the mind a rational and wholesome faith: 
 
 neither 
 
EMANUEL SWEDENBORG S WRITINGS. 27 
 
 neither can they l)e considered as the sure and proper evi- 
 dences of a divine mission. For we read, that when Moses 
 and Aaron exhibited before Pharaoh the signs or proofs of 
 their authority, by turning- a rod into a serpent, and all the 
 waters of Egypt into blood, and also by bringing up frogs 
 upon all the land, the magicians with their enchantments did 
 the same. Pharaoh therefore hardened his heart, and refused 
 to listen to the message, with which tliey were charged from 
 Jehovah. Similar, in all probability, would be the conduct 
 of many in the present day, were really divine miracles again 
 to be performed: they would either be refened to some in- 
 comprehensible operations of nature, or else be rejected as 
 phantasms and crafty deceptions ; and such persons, as as- 
 cribed them to a divine power, would be held in derision, or 
 pitied for their simplicity. 
 
 Our Lord says, "There shall wc'i&c: false chrlsts, m\(\ false 
 prophets, who shall shew great signs and iconders, insomuch 
 that (if it were possible) they shall deceive the very elect," 
 Matt. xxiv. 24. Mark xiii. 22. If so, then signs and won- 
 ders, or miraculous performances, are no certain proofs of a 
 divine mission, because they are within the power of im- 
 postors and false teachers, and by no means the peculiar 
 characteristics of a divinely authorized prophet. Nay, the 
 power of working miracles is expressly attributed to devils, 
 in Apoc. xvi. 14 : and the very wish or desire to see a sign, 
 in proof of a divine commission, is charged on the Jews as a 
 mark of their being a wicked and adidterous generation, 
 Matt. xvi. 4. 
 
 Then why, it may be asked, were miracles performed 
 among the Jews in ancient times, and not among Christians 
 in the present day? The answer is, Because the former 
 were so immersed in natural and corporeal affections, that 
 they were incapable of discerning the interior spiritual truths 
 of revelation ; neither could these be laid before them with- 
 out danger of profanation : on which account the Lord spake 
 to that people in parables, that "seeing they might see, 
 and not perceive, and hearing they might hear, and not un- 
 
 D 2 derstand," 
 
28 A VINDICATION OF 
 
 derstancl'^ Mark iv. 12. Whereas now, since the intro- 
 duction of Christianity into the world, the rational faculties of 
 the human mind are more capable than before of being ex- 
 ercised on subjects of a divine nature, especially in respect 
 to the Lord, his Word, the church, and a state of immortality 
 in another life. The miracles, therefore, which were dis- 
 played among- the Jewish and Israelitish people in the times 
 alluded to, were performed, not with the design of forming 
 them into a real spiritual church, (for this was not done, 
 neither could it possibly be effected, by any such external 
 means a$ miracles,) but for the purpose of compelling them 
 to become the mere representative of a church, that all their 
 rites, ceremonies, and acts of public worship might typify, 
 shadow forth, and thus represent the Christian dispensation, 
 together with the great process of man's regeneration, and 
 above all that of the Lord's glorification. The miraculous 
 cures, which were performed on the bodies of the blind, the 
 deaf, the lame, and the sick, were in like manner repre- 
 sentative of those divine operations upon the spirit of man, 
 whereby his understanding is enlightened, his aflPections pu- 
 rified, and his whole life renewed, through the medium of 
 a true and genuine faith, directed solely to the Lord God 
 and Saviour in his Divine Humanity. 
 
 There appears also to have been another reason why the 
 dispensation of miracles was formerly given, but is with-held 
 in latter times ; namely, tliat the canon of Sacred Scripture 
 might be written and completed, while the representative 
 church was in a state favourable to it's dictation in ultimates : 
 for it's divine truths could not have been concentrated in the 
 literal form and basis, in which we now behold them, and con- 
 sequently could not have been accommodated to the capacity 
 of man in all future ages, unless a series of miraculous ap- 
 pearances had been exhibited and registered. From which 
 consideration it follows, that it was chiefly for the sake of 
 the Word, which is the uniting link between heaven and the 
 church, and to point out the divine omnipotence of the Lord, 
 as well in spiritual as in natural things, that such extraordi- 
 nary 
 
EMANUEL SWEDENBORG's WRITINGS. 29 
 
 Bary miracles, as we find recorded in it, have actually taken 
 effect. But having been transacted before men, with whom 
 the internals of the mind were already closed, and by whom 
 consequently no further spiritual injury was likely to be 
 sustained from the display of supernatural powers, the vo- 
 lume of revelation, couched under the language of history, 
 prophecy, and evangelism, was written in different succes- 
 sive periods, and at length fully completed, it's letter being 
 made perfectly correspondent with it's divine spirit. 
 
 Henceforth, therefore, no other miracle is required in the 
 church, than the opening of the eyes of the understanding, 
 the renovation of the heart and aflfections, a conformity of 
 the life to the holy and divine precepts of the Word, and 
 the actual descent of the New Jerusalem from heaven to 
 earth. Effects like these, wheresoever or with whomsoever 
 they take place, are truly miraculous, because they are 
 supernatural, and plainly bespeak a divine power, which is 
 alone capable of producing them. 
 
 After this scriptural account of the nature, use, design, 
 and effect of miracles, will Mr. Pike still call for their ex- 
 hibition as the true and proper test of a divine message ? or 
 will he, as an honest man and sincere christian, fairly 
 acknowledge the error, into which he has inadvertently 
 fallen? If upon re-consideration he shall find, that he has 
 been reckoning without his host, that he has in short grossly 
 misrepresented the grounds upon which the authority of 
 prophets and other men of God has been admitted in the 
 church, I trust he will have the candour to allow, that the 
 want of miracles, even in the case of Baron Swedenborg, is 
 in itself no just reason for rejecting his testimony, any more 
 than the testimony of twelve out of sixteen prophets, or of 
 John the Baptist, the greatest of them all. 
 
 2. PREDICTION OF FUTURE EVENTS. 
 
 The next point of objection urged against the credibility 
 of Baron Swedenborg, as a divinely-commissioned messenger 
 from heaven, is, that " l^e foretold no considerable events, 
 
 that 
 
30 A VINDICATION OF 
 
 that have since taken place in the world, as the prophets of 
 the Old Testament are known to have done." We have 
 already seen, that several of the prophets made no appeal to 
 the test of miracles, as a proof that they were sent by God ; 
 and it is equally clear, that many of their predictions received 
 no accomplishment whatever till hundreds of years after tlieir 
 delivery, namely, until the period when our Lord made his 
 appearance in the world. Yet at the very moment of their 
 thus announcing the future advent of the Messiah, and 
 during- all the time which elapsed between the prophecy and 
 it's actual fulfilment, while there was no visible proof of 
 their divine mission, they were accepted by the Jewish 
 nation as true prophets of Jehovah. It is plain, therefore, 
 that the objection, which Mr. Pike raises against the au- 
 thority of Baron Swedenborg, on the ground of his not 
 having predicted future events, which have since taken 
 place in the world, is no more entitled to our consideration 
 and respect in the present day, than a similar objection would 
 formerly have been, if urged by the Jews in the days of 
 many of their prophets. 
 
 But though Swedenborg did not undertake to foretel 
 any specific events that were to take place herealter, it is 
 a most remarkable circumstance, that in his treatise on the 
 Last Judgment, published in the year 1758, he announces, 
 that a great change had then recently taken place in the 
 spiritual world, which could not but be followed by a similar 
 change in the minds of men living in the natural world. 
 Heretofore the professors of religion, the members of the 
 church both among Roman Catholics and Protestants, were 
 debarred from exercising their reason and understanding in 
 the examination of the faith, which had been so long imposed 
 upon them by their priests. They were not permitted, for 
 example, to inquire how far the generally-received doctrine 
 of three divine persons in the Godhead is consistent or 
 inconsistent either with the Sacred Scriptures, or with sound 
 reason : but they were bound to submit their understanding 
 to the dictates of a blind faith, and implicitly to believe 
 
 whatever 
 
EMANUEL SWEDENBORG S WRITINGS. 31 
 
 whatever the rulers of the church have taught on that aud 
 other subjects connected with it. This state of mental 
 bondage Baron Swedenborg was the first to declare at an 
 end ; and hencefortii, says he, by virtue of the spiritual 
 liberty, which is now restored, mankind will be more gene- 
 rally disposed to think and judge for themselves on all 
 matters of religion, and at the same time more capable of 
 discerning the truth when presented to them, and of receiving 
 it in heart and life, than they have been in the ages that 
 are past. 
 
 The surprising events, which have taken place in the 
 moral world since the period above alluded to, when spiritual 
 liberty was restored, and the New Jerusalem dispensation 
 commenced, afford abundant coniirmation of the truth of this 
 assertion ; and no reasonable doubt can be entertained, but 
 the various improvements in science, as well as the many 
 new and benevolent institutions in society, which so remark- 
 ably distinguish the present age, ai'e all effects proceeding 
 from the same cause, and the necessary results of that great 
 change in the spiritual world, which was so distinctly an- 
 nounced by Baron Swedenborg at a time when not the 
 smallest traces of it were as yet discernible in the natural 
 world. But as it v/as in the days of the Son of Man, when 
 neither the Pharisees nor the Sadducees could discern the 
 signs of the times, although they were evident to others, so it 
 is probable that in the present day also the successors of those 
 Pharisees and Sadducees will be equally incapable of forming 
 a right judgment on the great events that every where sur- 
 round them, though to the unprejudiced and truly enlightened 
 mind they must carry full conviction, that a new era has 
 already commenced in consequence of the Lord's second 
 advent. 
 
 SECTION 
 
32 A VINDICATION OF 
 
 SECTION III. 
 
 1 . Whelher a 7ieiv Revelation was or tvas not to be 
 expected. — 2. Fornication and Adultery falsely 
 supposed to he alloicable hy Sivedenhorg.— Z. A. 
 distinct Heaven for Mahometans, and Plurality 
 of Wives. — 4. Devils and Angels once Men. — 
 5, Calvinists said to he driven out of Heaven, 
 and to have Churches in Hell. — 6. Satans said 
 to plunder the Heavens.- — 7. Married People quar- 
 rel in the other World. — 8. Dutchmen said to 
 live 071 one Side of the Street in Heaven, and 
 their Wives on the other. — 9. Tables said to be 
 in Heaven for bursting in Explosio7is on those 
 ivho lay too onuch Stress on Faith. — JO. Errors 
 in Heaven. — 11. Effects of the Saptism of In- 
 fants. — 12. The Lord appears in Heaven as a 
 Sun before the right Eye, and as a Moon before 
 the left. 
 
 \JF the various charges, which Mr. Pike brings forward 
 against Swedenborg, in p. 5, some are false, while others 
 are grossly misrepresented : and instead of referring his 
 readers to the author's own works, he appeals to a pamphlet 
 written by an avowed enemy of the Baron, under the title of 
 Ati Inquiry respecting the Truth of the Mission of Sweden- 
 bora. Let us however examine those charges separately. 
 
 1. A NEW REVELATION. 
 
 « 
 
 It is asserted by Mr. Pike, that " the Scriptures give us 
 no warrant for expecting any new revelation." Now, in 
 opposition to this, our Lord expressly says to his disciples, 
 
 "I 
 
EMANUEt SWEDENBORG's WRITINGS. 33 
 
 ** I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear 
 them now t Howbeit, when he the spirit of truth is come, he 
 will guide you into all truth," John xvi. 12, 13. Here he 
 evidently declares, that the revelation, which in his divine 
 wisdom he saw was best suited and adapted to their imperfect 
 comprehension at that tbm, would in some future day be 
 succeeded by one more distinct and full, when the Spirit of 
 truth would enlighten their understandings with new ilis- 
 coveries of his Word and will, which they were then in- 
 capable of receiving. In another verse of the same chapter 
 he adds, " These things have I spoken unto you in proverbs: 
 the time cometh when I shall no more speak unto you in pro- 
 verbs, but I shall shew you plainly of the Father," ver. 25. 
 Here again a new and plainer revelation concerning the 
 Father, in addition to that which they were then favoured 
 with, is distinctly promised : and we know, that this promise 
 was never fulfilled until the publication of the heavenly doc- 
 trines of the New Jerusalem, which teach that Jesus Christ, 
 the Redeemer and Saviour of the world, is at the same time 
 it's Creator and Preserver, and consequently the Only God 
 of heaven and earth, the Everlasting Father himself: see 
 Isa. ix. 6. Chap. xl. 3, 9, 10. Chap, xliii. 1, 11. Chap. 
 Ixiii. 16. John xiv. 9. Apoc. i. 8, 11, 17. Chap. xxii. 13. 
 From a variety of other passages it appears, that the 
 Lord was, in some future day, to come in the clouds of 
 heaven with power and great glory. Matt. xxiv. 30; that 
 is, in his Holy Word, unloosing the seals of it's letter, Isa. 
 xxix. 11 ; and revealing it's spiritual sense, Apoc. v. 1 to 9. 
 The prophet Isaiah, speaking of this time, saith, " The 
 glory of Jehovah shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see 
 it together,'' Isa. xl. 5. " Jehovah shall arise upon thee, 
 and his glory shall be seen upon thee," chap. Ix. 2. And 
 in the Apocalypse it is written, " The Lord God of the 
 holy prophets sent his angel to shew unto his servants the 
 things which must shortly be done. Behold, 1 come quickly, 
 and my reward is with me," Apoc. xxii. 6, 12. " Write 
 the things which thou hast seen, and the things which are, 
 
 £ and 
 
34 A VINDICATION OF 
 
 and the things which shall h& hereafter,''' Apoc. i. 19. " The 
 temple of God was opened in heaven, and there was seen 
 in his temple the ark of his testament," Apoc. xi. 19. " And 
 after that I looked, and behold, the temple of the tabernacle 
 of the testimony in heaven ivas opened," Apoc. xv. 5. And 
 again, " I sa\v heaven opened, and behold, a white horse ; 
 and he that sat upon him was called laithful and true. 
 And he was clothed with a vesture dipt in blood ; and his 
 name is called The Word of God," Apoc. xix. 11, 13. 
 These and many other passages both in the Old and the New 
 Testament clearly shew, that some further manifestation of 
 divine truth, beyond the mere literal expressions contained 
 in the Word, was to be communicated to the church on 
 earth, and that such manifestation would in fact be a new 
 revelation of the glory of the Lord. 
 
 The apostle Paul likewise says, that " the Lord Jesus 
 shall he revealed from heaven ; that he shall come to be glori- 
 fied in his saints, and to be admired in all tliem that believe 
 in that day," 2 Thess. i. 7, 10. But that " the day of Christ 
 shall be preceded by a general falling away from the true faith," 
 2 Thess. ii. 2, 3. Which agrees with our Lord's words, 
 where he saith, " When the Son of Man cometh, shall he 
 find faith on the earth i" Luke xviii. 8. In like manner the 
 apostle Peter speaks of " the grace that is to be brought 
 into the church at the revelation of Jesus Christ," IPet. i. 13. 
 In all these cases a future revelation is clearly announced; 
 and we are fully waiTanted in expecting it, notwithstanding 
 Mr. Pike's assertion to the contrary. It is called the revela- 
 tion of Jesus Christ, not because he will then manifest him- 
 self to the world in person, or in an open and visible manner, 
 as some are led to expect, but because he will open the 
 interior sense of his Word, which indeed is himself, John 
 i. 1, 14, and thereby communicate new light and new life 
 to those, who heretofore were sitting in the shade and ob- 
 scurity of it's letter. 
 
 2. FORNICATION 
 
EMANUEL SWEDENBORGS WRITINGS. 35 
 
 2. FORNICATION AND ADULTERY. 
 
 The next charge against Baron Swedenborg is, that with 
 him " fornication is allowable, and adultery, in many cases, 
 no crime." This is a most unjust charge, and can only be 
 ma'de by those, who either wilfully or ignorantly misrepresent 
 the author. So far from countenancing and encouraging the 
 evils of fornication and adultery, he expressly condemns 
 them ; but at the same time, with that wisdom and discrimi- 
 nation to which his opponent appears to be an entire stranger, 
 he distinguishes between the several kinds and degrees of 
 evil in both the one and the other. On the subject of for- 
 nication he writes thus : " Tliere are degrees of the quali- 
 ties of evil, as there are degrees of the qualities of good: 
 wherefore every evil is lighter and heavier, as every good 
 is l)etter and more excellent. The case is the same with 
 fornication, which, as being a lust, and a lust of the natural 
 man not yet purified, is an evil: but inasmuch as every man 
 is capable of being purified, therefore so far as it accedes 
 or approaches to a purified state, so far that evil becomes 
 a lighter evil, for so far it is wiped away ; but so far as it 
 accedes or approaches to the love of adultery, so far it is 
 more grievous." Conjugial Love, 452. He afterwards, n, 
 453, explains what he means by the lust of fornication ac- 
 ceding or approaching to adultery : " All fornicators (says 
 he) look to adultery, who do not believe adulteries to be sins, 
 and who entertain like thoughts of marriages and of adul- 
 teries, only with the discrimination of what is allowed and 
 what is disallowed" by the laws of human society. 
 
 On the subject of adultery perhaps no author has ever 
 written so amply, so ably, and so expressly in condemnation 
 of that vice, as the Baron has done throughout his volumi- 
 nous works, particularly in his treatise on Heaven and Hell, 
 384; Conjugial Love, 464, 500; Arcana Ccelestia, 8904; 
 where he observes, that " whenever man commits adultery, 
 and feels a delight therein, heaven is closed against him." 
 
 e2 But 
 
36 A VINDICATION OF 
 
 But he also cliscriminates between the degrees of guilt even 
 in acts of adultery, according to the circumstances attending 
 them, justly remarking, that some cases are less aggravated 
 than others : and for this he is shamefully accused of en- 
 couraging vice, and giving his sanction to adultery, by the 
 Rev. J. G. Pike, of Derby, a professed minister of the 
 gospel of Jesus Christ; by Mr. Pike, who knows no dif- 
 ference in guilt between simple fornication and the infernal 
 lust of adultery, but confounding together all the shades of 
 crime, the lightest with the most grievous and pernicious, 
 pronounces the same judgment on every kind and degree of 
 evil ! To reason with such a man is obviously a waste of 
 time, which might be employed to a much better purpose. 
 If he cannot of himself comprehend so plain a doctrine as 
 that of the equitable distribution of rewards and punish- 
 ments, according to the degree of merit or demerit in human 
 actions, no arguments will avail so as to produce a conviction 
 of the truth and justice of our Lord's words in the Gospel, 
 where he saith, *' That servant, who knew his lord's will, 
 and prepared not himself, neither did according to his will, 
 shall be beaten with many stripes. But he that knew not, 
 and did commit things worthy of stripes, shall be beaten with 
 feio strij)es,'' Luke xii. 47, 48. Let these observations 
 suffice for the present, as we shall have occasion to return 
 to this subject again in the course of the work. 
 
 3. A DISTINCT HEAVEN FOR MAHOMETANS. 
 
 Another charge against Baron Swedenborg is, p. 5, that 
 he assigns " a distinct heaven for Mahometans, where they 
 have a plurality of wives." It is generally supposed, that 
 there is only one heaven, one spacious receptacle, into which 
 ail good men are admitted after death, without any regard 
 to the different degrees and qualities of the charity and 
 faith, which constitute their spiritual life. And this crude, 
 indigested notion of a future state and place of happiness 
 appears to be entertained by Mr. Pike, as if it were a 
 
 matter 
 
EMANUEL SWEDENBORG's WRITINGS. 37 
 
 matter of undoubted certainty. That tliere are, however, 
 at least three heavens, cannot be denied by those who admit 
 the authority of the apostle Paul ; for he expressly states, 
 that he knew a man (probably himself,) who was " caught 
 up into the tldrcl heaven," 2 Cor. xii. 2. And if we appeal 
 to still higher authority, we shall find, that the kingdom of 
 heaven is diversified by numerous habitations, or distinct 
 places of abode, all of them being doubtless accommodated 
 to the temper, taste, and spiritual state of their respective 
 inhabitants. Our Lord in the Gospel says to his disciples, 
 "In my Father's house are viany mansions: if it were not 
 so, I would have told you," John xiv. 2. Nothing therefore 
 can be conceived of as more consistent with divine order, 
 and the true sense of Holy Writ, than such an arrangement 
 in the mansions of bliss, as may be best suited to the various 
 dispositions and hal)its of life, which have been previously 
 formed in good and pious men, according to their several 
 professions of religion, whether they have been Christians, 
 Mahometans, Jews, or Pagans. For to suppose, that none 
 but Christians can hereafter become the subjects of eternal 
 happiness, and that all others are necessarily excluded from 
 heaven, is the height of cruelty, wickedness, and insanity : 
 it is an aspersion of the character of Him, " whose tender 
 mercies are over all his works," Ps. cxlv. 9 ; and who de- 
 clares, that " many shall come from the east, and from the 
 west, and from the north, and from the south, and shall sit 
 down in the kingdom of God," Luke xiii. 29. Matt. viii. 11. 
 With respect to the Mahometans being allowed a 
 plurality of wives in heaven," this is not correctly stated. 
 The Baron's words are as follow : " The Mahometans, like 
 all other people who acknowledge God, and love what is 
 just, and do good from religious motives, have their particular 
 lieaven, but out of the limits of the Christian heaven. The 
 Mahometan heaven is divided into two : the inhabitants of 
 the inferior heaven live virtuously with several wives, but 
 none are raised thence into the superior heaven, except such 
 as renounce a plurality of wives, and acknowledge the 
 
 Lord 
 
38 A VINDICATION OF 
 
 Lord our Saviour, and at the same time his dominion over 
 heaven and hell. I have been informed, that it is impossible 
 for them to conceive God the Father and our Lord to be 
 one; but that it is possible for them to believe, that the 
 Lord hath dominion over the heavens and the hells, because 
 he is the Son of God the Father. (*) It is this faith 
 whereby the Lord effecteth their ascent into the superior 
 heaven." True Christ. Relig. 832. We leave this pas- 
 sage without comment for two reasons ; first, because it is 
 not contrary to the Scriptures, though it may sound strange 
 in the ears of a person, whose charity is contracted to the 
 span of his own narrow circle; secondly, because every 
 man erf sound understanding-, who believes in divine reve- 
 lation, may know, that the life which is coniirmed by habit 
 in this world, especially if derived from the religious in- 
 struction received from infancy, cannot easily be changed 
 after death ; but that each individual, whatever may have 
 been the dispensation under which the Divine Providence 
 had placed him, will be dealt with and rewarded hereafter 
 according to the quality of his works, which are expressly 
 said to ''follow with himP Apoc. xiv. 13. 
 
 4. DEVILS ATVD ANGELS ONCE MEN. 
 
 The doctrine maintained by Baron Swedenborg, " that 
 devils and angels were once men," is also brought as a 
 charge against him, in all probability merely because it is 
 
 new 
 
 (*) Let the reader compare this Mahometan faith with what is now usually 
 called the Christian faith, and he will scarcely find a particle of difference. The 
 Christian (so called) no more believes, that God the Father and the Lord are 
 one, than the Mahometan does. Both equally consider the Son of God as a person 
 and being distinct from God : and though both may be induced to acknowledge, 
 that the Son is capable of exercising a power over heaven and hell, in consequence 
 of it's being delegated to him by another, yet neither of them will admit, that 
 he is the mighty God, the everlasting Father, or Jehovah himself in human form, 
 Isa. ix. 6. John xiv. 9 ; when vet this is plainly the true Christian faith, and that 
 which distinguishes between Christianity and every other known system of reli- 
 gion in the world. 
 
EMANUEL SWPDENBORGS WRITINGS. 39 
 
 new to Mr. Pike, and to those who in reading the Scriptures, 
 as he must have done, with half-closed eyes, have not been 
 able to discover it's truth, though to an impartial eye it is 
 very evident. It is indeed the general opinion, that angels 
 were originally created such, and immediately placed in 
 heaven, without having first lived as men in the natural 
 world, and that many of them afterwards rebelled, and were 
 cast down from heaven, together with Lucifer the instigator 
 and leader of the insurrection. This idea, however, has no 
 foundation in the Sacred Scriptures either of the Old Tes- 
 tament, or of the New ; but has arisen in the church from 
 a misapprehension of the true sense of those passages, 
 wherein mention is made of angels, of the sons of God, and 
 of Lucifer the son of the morning; and has been further 
 confirmed by the representations of poets and other fanciful 
 writers. Tine fall of Lucifer, which is spoken of in Isa. xiv. 
 12, &c. has no reference whatever to the defection of any 
 angel so called in heaven, but solely to the fallen state of 
 the church on earth, as is evident from the whole tenor of 
 the chapter, and particularly from ver. 4, which announces 
 the subject to be "a proverb against the king of Babylon J' 
 that is, against the church which had once been like an angel 
 in a state of integrity and spiritual glory, but had afterwards 
 degenerated, and became "as a carcase, trodden under 
 feet," ver. 19. 
 
 A passage in Job is also thought by some to coun- 
 tenance the idea of angels having been created such before 
 the formation of man, when yet no such doctrine can be 
 fairly deduced from it, if interpreted, as it ought to be, ac- 
 cording to it's spiritual sense, and the true meaning of the 
 writer. Speaking of the church under the denominatioa 
 of the earth, as is usual in the Word, and in the writings 
 of high antiquity among the nations of the east, Jehovah 
 is represented as saying to Job, " Where wast thou when 
 I laid the foundations of the earth I declare, if thou hast 
 understanding. Who hath laid the measures thereof, if thou 
 knowest? or who hath stretched the line upon it? Where- 
 upon 
 
40 s. A VINDICATION OF 
 
 upon are the i'oundations thereof fastened t or who laid the 
 corner-stone thereof? when the moniiriff-stars sang together, 
 and all the sons of God shouted for joy," Job xxxviii. 4 to 7. 
 Literally and philosophically speaking, the earth, being 
 merely a globe of terratpieous matter, has no foundations, 
 nor any corner-stone ; still less can it be supposed, that there 
 is any substance, upon which it's foundations are laid or 
 fastened. But of the church it may truly be said, that it's 
 foundations are laid on the rock of divine truth, and that 
 the corner-stone thereof is the Lord himself: see Isa. xxviii. 
 16. Matt. xxi. 42. The morning-stars, therefore, which sang- 
 together, and the sons of God, who shouted for joy, on the 
 foundation or commencement of the Ancient Church there 
 treated of, were the primitive members of that church both 
 in the spiritual and in the natural world, who being delivered 
 from the power of hell, which previously threatened them as 
 an overwhelming sea, ver. 8 to 11, are described as partaking 
 of the supreme happiness resulting from the reception of 
 divine truth, and a consciousness of their salvation. 
 
 There is yet another passage or two in the Apostolic 
 Epistles, from which it is inferred, that angels are a distinct 
 race from men. Peter in his second Epistle, chap. ii. 4, 
 and Jude in his General Epistle, ver. 6, both speak of 
 " angels that sinned, or kept not their first estate, whom God 
 spared not, but cast them dowij to hell," &c. (*) But that 
 these angels were no other than fnen, who belonged to the 
 First or Most Ancient Church, and on it's fall became a 
 degenerate and abandoned race, is pretty evident from the 
 description given of them by Jude in ver. 7 ; from which it 
 would appear, that, like the inhabitants of Sodom and Go- 
 morrha, " they gave themselves over to fornication, and 
 
 ffoinff 
 
 (*) The apostle Peter aad the apostle Jude both appear to have copied 
 from one and the same ancient book, which was extant in their day, but is since% 
 lost to the world. How otherwise can it be accounted for, that the very same 
 ideas, the very same kind of laitguaje, and the very same order of delivery, which 
 we find in the oii» writer, are so punctually followed by the other ? Let the readtr 
 
 onlv- 
 
EMANUEL SWEDENBORg's WRITINGS. 41 
 
 going after strange flesh:'" a charge, which even the advocates 
 for the creation of angels before men will scarcely allow to 
 be in any respect applicable to such thin, airy, fleshless, and 
 unsubstantial beings, as they suppose angels to be. 
 
 Upon 
 
 only compare the passages here referred to, and he will find no room for a doubt on 
 the subject. 
 
 PETER, SECOND EPISTLE. JUDE, GENERAL EPISTLE. 
 
 Chap. ii. Verse 1 to be compared with Verse 4. 
 
 4 6. 
 
 6 T. 
 
 10 8. 
 
 11 9. 
 
 12 10. 
 
 13 to 15 11, 12. 
 
 17 12, IS. 
 
 18, 19 16. 
 
 Chap. iii. Verse 2 17. 
 
 8 18. 
 
 Peter goes on in the succeeding verses of chap. iii. to speak of the former 
 heavens and former earth ; of (he heavens and earth which then were ; of these 
 ■ fatter being reserved for destruction by fire, as the former had been destroyed by 
 water ; and lastly of new heavens and a new earth, wherein should dwell righteous- 
 ness : All which particulars were no doubt transcribed by him from some ancient 
 writing, not perhaps of absolutely divine authority, like the genuine books of the 
 Ancient Word, (now lost, though plainly referred to by Moses in Numb. xxii. 14, 
 15, 27 to 30 ; by Joshua, chap. x. 12 to 14 ; and in 2 Sam. i. 18 ;) but the pro- 
 duction of some enlightened man, who treated of the successions of different churches 
 in the style and manner of the literal sense of our Word. Origen, who lived at the 
 beginning of the third century, says, he found in a Jewish Greek book, called Tha 
 Assumption of Moses, ('AmXjjiptc ra Mw(7£we,) the story related in the Epistle 
 of Jude concerning the dispute of the archangel Michael with the devil about the 
 body of Moses : and from a comparison of that book with Jude, he was thoroughly 
 persuaded, that it was the very book, from which Jnde quoted. (See 3Iichaelis, 
 lutrod. Vol. 4, p. 379.) Jude also in his Epistle, ver. 14, 15, makes express 
 mention of a prophetical book written by Enoch, the seventh from Adam, and quotes 
 from it a passage, which foretels the coming of the Lord to execute judgment upon 
 the wicked. And it is not improbable, but several of the references made by the 
 Evangelists to the sayings of prophets not to be found in the Old Testament, (if 
 there be any such,) may have been intended as appeals to, or citations frpm, th^ 
 Ancient Word spoken of above. Or perhaps they were contained in some other 
 prophetic books, or written sayings, now lost, of which mention is so frequently 
 made in the books of Kings and Chronicles. 
 
 F 
 
42 A VINDICATION OF 
 
 Upon no better foundation, than the preceding passages, 
 ill understood, and supported by the poetical fiction of 
 Milton's Paradise Lost, rests the prevailing opinion of the 
 existence of angels before the creation of man. All our 
 poets, however, have not fallen into that error; for Dr. 
 Young took a more correct view of the subject, when he 
 penned the following lines : 
 
 " Angels are men iu lighter habit clad. 
 
 High o'er celestial mountains wiug'd in flight ; 
 
 And mtn are angels loaded for an hour. 
 
 Who wade this mirj vale, and climb witli pain, 
 
 Ana slipp'ry step, the bottom of the steep. 
 
 Angels i\\c\r failhujs, mortals have their jj/uisi;." 
 
 If tiien angels are not to be distinguished from men either 
 by their birth, or by their final destination, but only by 
 their dress, that is, by tiie kind of body which they carry 
 with them, and the heights of intellectual enjoyment to 
 which they can aspire, it follows, that neither were devils 
 originally created angels of light, and afterwards cast out 
 of heaven, and converted into angels of darkness, in conse- 
 quence of any rebellion devized by Lucifer their chief, and 
 fatally attempted by the rest ; but that they in like manner 
 are also of the human race, having been born men like other 
 men, and lived and died without God in the world, that is, 
 like devils, as they afterwards became. On this subject, 
 therefore, we may safely come to the following conclusion, 
 That there is not in all heaven a single angel that was origi- 
 nally created such, nor in all hell a single devil that was 
 originally created an angel of light, and was afterwards cast 
 out of heaven ; but that all both in heaven and in hell are 
 of the human race, in heaven such as had lived in the world 
 in heavenly love and faith, and in hell such as had lived in 
 the lusts and concupiscences of self-love and the love of 
 the world. And further, that hell, taken collectively, or in 
 it's entire form, is called sometimes the devil, and sometimes 
 
 satan, 
 
EMANUEL SWEDENBORG's WRITINGS. 43 
 
 mtan, according- as the evil or the false principle issuing 
 therefrom is more particularly adverted to and described. (*) 
 
 But to come to more direct proofs from the Sacred 
 Scriptures, that angels and men are of one and the same 
 species of intelligent beings, it is written, that " in the he- 
 ginning (that is, at the commencement of all things) God 
 created the heavens and the earth," Gen. i. 1. And after 
 describing the process introductory to the formation of man, 
 it is then added, " So God created man in his own image, 
 in the image of God created he him ; male and female 
 created he them," ver. 27. The inspired penman concludes 
 this part of the subject by saying, " Thus the heavens and 
 the earth were finished, and all the host of thein. And on 
 the seventh day God ended his work which he had made ; 
 and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which 
 he had made," Gen. ii. 1, 2. If now this be regarded as 
 an account of the first act of creation, it is plain that men 
 were formed before angels, and not contrariwise : for it 
 would be the height of absurdity to suppose, that angels or 
 any other beings were created before the beginning, or before 
 the Divine Agent began his work. 
 
 The order of creation is also worthy of being noticed ; 
 because it shews, that the less perfect production preceded 
 the more perfect : first of all inanimate matter was created, 
 as earth and water on the first day ; then vegetables, as 
 grass, herbs, and fruit-trees, on the third day; afterwards 
 animals, as fishes, fowls, and beasts, on the fifth day ; lastly 
 men, male and female, on the sixth day. But man at his 
 first formation was not in so high a state of perfection as he 
 afterwards arrived at, when " the Lord God breathed into 
 his nostrils the breath of lives, and he became a living soul," 
 Gen. ii. 7. With this new name he acquired a new quality, 
 and became in effect a man-angel, while living in the body, 
 each successive stage of his existence introducing him to a 
 
 still 
 
 (*) See Reflections on the Unitarian and Trinitarian Doctrines, p. 11, 12. 
 
 f2 
 
44 A VINDICATION OF 
 
 still more exalted degree of wisdom and intelligence, until 
 at length, by putting ofl" the material body, he became a pure 
 spirit or an angel. In this last state the term angel is not 
 unfrequently applied to him in the Word : and reciprocally 
 also an angel is called a man. 
 
 The fii'st place, in which mention is made of an angel, is 
 Gen, xvi. 7 to 11, where the angel of Jehovah appeared to 
 Hagar. But as this passage does not furnish so clear a 
 proof of the identity of angels and men, as the argument 
 requires, we proceed to others more decisive of the question. 
 In Gen. xviii. we read, that three angels appeared to Abra- 
 ham, who are expressly called men, ver. 2, 16, 22. And in 
 like manner the two angels that appeared to Lot, Gen. xix. 
 5, 8, 10, 12, 16. We also read, that " when Joshua was 
 by Jericho, he lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, 
 there stood a man over-against him with his drawn sword in 
 his hand :" and that the same man was an angel, is plain 
 from his calling himself " the captain of the Lord's host," 
 Josh. V. 13 to 15. An angel likewise appeared to Manoah's 
 wife, and afterwards to Manoah himself, as a man, being 
 repeatedly so called, Judg. xiii. 3, 6, 8, 10, 11. The priest 
 and prophet Ezekiel constantly describes the angels, whom 
 he saw, as men: see chap. ix. 2, 3, 11. Chap. x. 2, 3, 6, 7. 
 Chap. xl. 3, 4. Chap, xliii. 6. Chap, xlvii. 3. Daniel and 
 Zechariah do the same : see Dan. viii. 15, 16. Chap. ix. 21, 
 where the angel Gabriel is called the man Gabriel. Chap. 
 X. 5, 16, 18. Chap. xii. 6, 7. Zech. i. 8, 10. Chap. ii. 1. 
 
 The same doctrine of the identity of angels and men is 
 equally demonstrable from the writings of the New Testa- 
 ment. In Mark xvi. 5, the angel that was seen " sitting on 
 the right side pf the Lord's sepulchre, clothed in a long 
 white garment," is called " a young man.'' And in Luke 
 xxiv. 4, when the women went to the sepulchre, to look for 
 the body of the Lord Jesus, it is said, that " two men 
 (meaning tivo angels) stood by them in shining garments."^ 
 Our Lord also in the same Evangelist says, that deceased 
 men, who have departed in a regenerate state, "are equal 
 unto the angels," Luke xx. 36. 
 
EMANUEL SWEDENBORG's WRITINGS. 45 
 
 But the doctrine here maintained is inculcated niore 
 plainly still by the apostle John in the book of Revelation. 
 The angel, who accompanied John, and shewed him the 
 gteat city, the holy Jerusalem, coming down from God out 
 of heaven, measured the wall thereof, and found it to be an 
 hundred and forty and four cubits, which are said to be " ac- 
 cording to the measure of a man, that is, of an angel,'' 
 Apoc. xxi. 17; thus identifying a man and an angel as one 
 and the same, because they are of the same family by 
 creation, and acknowledge the same Lord as their common 
 Parent. 
 
 It is further written, that after the angel had shewed 
 John the wonderful things relating to heaven, he was about 
 to fall at his feet in profound adoration : but the angel im- 
 mediately stopped him, and said, " See thou do it not; for I 
 am thy fellow-servant, and of thy brethren that have the 
 testimony of Jesus : worship God," Apoc. xix. 10. And 
 again the apostle continues, " When I had heard and seen^ 
 I fell down to worship before the feet of the angel, who 
 shewed me these things. Then saith he unto me. See thou 
 do it not ; for I am thy fellow-servant, and of thy brethren 
 the prophets, and of them who keep the sayings of this book: 
 worship God," Apoc. xxii. 8, 9. Here the angel avows 
 himself to be only a man, a prophet, the brother and fellow- 
 servant of John, and of no higher consideration than other 
 pious and good men, who, having kept the sayings or com- 
 mandments of their Saviour, are after death admitted to 
 share in the glory and happiness of heaven. 
 
 It is also worthy of remark, that the seven churches ifl 
 Asia, to which John wrote, are addressed by the Spirit 
 nndef the general name of angels ; and each particulaif 
 church, consisting of many individuals, as if they were only 
 one single angel. To each of them he says, " I know thy 
 works ;" and, after pointing out the errors or evils into 
 which they had fallen, exhorts the greater part of them to 
 repentance, and comforts all who shall overcome with the 
 promise of everlasting life. 
 
 The 
 
46 A VINDICATION OF 
 
 The writer of the Acts of the Apostles concurs in the 
 same doctrine of angels being no other than deceased men ; 
 for in describing the case of Cornelius the centurion, who 
 was a Gentile convert, he states, that an angel of God ap- 
 peared to him, and directed him to inquire for Peter, who 
 would instruct him in the first principles of the Christian 
 religion: see Acts x. 3, 7, 22. And the same angel is in 
 verse 30 expressly called a man. 
 
 Having made these observations, I now ask, Why should 
 it be thought a strange or unscriptural doctrine, that all 
 the angels of heaven were once men upon earth ; and by 
 parity of reason, that all the devils in hell were once equally 
 men ? since the most satisfactory testimony, drawn from pro- 
 phets, evangelists, and apostles, establishes the fact, that at 
 the very beginning of creation 7nen were formed, and not 
 angels ; but that in due process of time men became angels, 
 and were thenceforth distinguished as such, though they still 
 retained their original and primitive name of ine7i. 
 
 5. CALVINISTS SAID TO BE DRIVEN OUT OF HEAVEN. 
 
 Mr. Pike next charges the Baron with asserting, that 
 " Calvinists are driven out of heaven, and have churches in 
 hell." But as he has not referred for proof to a single page or 
 number in any of that author's voluminous writings, but to 
 the anonymous publication of an avowed enemy, it might be 
 sufficient to observe, that, until the passage is clearly pointed 
 out, the objection is not fairly entitled to any answer what- 
 ever. We read in the Gospel, " that the kingdom of heaven 
 is like unto a king, who made a marriage for his son ; that 
 many were bidden, who refused the invitation; that others 
 were gathered together in their place, both bad and good ; 
 and that thus the wedding was furnished with guests. And 
 when the king came in to see the guests, he saw there a man 
 who had not on a wedding-garment: and he saith unto him. 
 Friend, how camest thou in hither, not having a wedding- 
 garment? And he was speechless. Then said the king to 
 
 the 
 
EMANUEL SWEDENBORGS WRITINGS. 47 
 
 tlie servants, Bind him liand and foot, and take him away, 
 and cast him into outer darkness: there shall be weeping 
 and gnashing of teeth," Matt. xxii. 2 to 13. From this para- 
 ble we learn, that it is a possible case for a man, without the 
 necessary qualifications for enjoying the happiness of heaven, 
 still to gain admission therein, and after a time to be detected 
 as altogether unfit for angelic company, and in consequence 
 to be cast out or driven into his proper abode, which is hell. 
 Our Lord also says, " I beheld Satan as lightning fall from 
 heaven," Luke x. 18. On a supposition, therefore, that 
 Swedenborg has given an account of the expulsion of certain 
 characters out of heaven, it is no more than what we are 
 justified in believing by the highest authority that can be 
 quoted. Whether the persons so cast out had professed 
 themselves to be Calvinisls, Arminians, or of any other de- 
 nomination, is of little moment: it is sufficient to know 
 from the Scriptures, that not every one who saith. Lord, 
 Lord, or who makes a profession of religion, is accepted 
 hereafter, but he only who " doeth the will of his Father 
 who is in heaven," Matt. vii. 21. 
 
 6. SATANS SAID TO PLUNDER THE HEAVENS. 
 
 Another charge against Baron Swedenborg is, that he 
 says, " Satans plunder the heavens." Here again no autho- 
 rity is cited iVoin any of his works, in proof of the asser- 
 tion; but the reader is expected to believe what Mr. Pike 
 has quoted from a most scurrilous pamphlet, published some 
 years ago against the doctrines of the New Jerusalem. 
 As I cannot find such a passage in all the writings of the 
 Baron, it would be a mere waste of time to dwell upon it. 
 Speaking of the Jews, in the spiritual world, he states 
 indeed, that they obtain precious stones from heaven, and. 
 traffick with them, in consequence of their reading the Word 
 in the original tongue, and regarding it's literal sense as holy. 
 The passage, which is explanatory of itself, and probably 
 the very same from whi(;h the misrepresentation has gone 
 
 forth. 
 
48 A VINDICATION OF 
 
 forth, is in the True Christian Religion, ii. 843, being" as 
 follows: "The Jews traffick in the spiritual world, as in 
 the natural world, with various commodities, particularly 
 with precious stones, which by unknown ways they procure 
 for themselves from heaven, where there are precious stones 
 in great abundance. The reason of their traflicking- with pre- 
 cious stones is, because they read the Word in the original 
 tongue, and esteem the sense of the letter to be holy, and 
 precious stones correspond with that sense." 
 
 A passage of this description may be ridiculed by those, 
 who are unacquainted with the state of man after death, and 
 have never considered the distinction observed in the Sacred 
 Scriptures between the spiritual world in general, and the se- 
 veral parts of that world, which are respectively denominated 
 heaven, hell, the lower earth, the pit, the prison, &c. : see 
 Isa. xiv. 15, 19. Chap. xxiv. 18, 22. Ezek. xxvi. 20. Ps. 
 xxviii. 1. Yet, without attending to these and other particu- 
 lars, it is impossible to understand many parts of divine 
 revelation. John says he was carried away in the spirit into 
 the tvilderness, where he saw a woman (representative of the 
 fallen church) sitting upon a scarlet-coloured beast, and ar- 
 rayed in purple and scarlet colour, and decked with gold, and 
 precious stones, and pearls, Apoc. xvii. 3, 4. The wilder- 
 ness here mentioned was neither in heaven nor in hell, but 
 in the intermediate world of spirits, where also were to be 
 seen gold, precious stones, and pearls. So when the Jews 
 are described by Swedenborg as trafficking in the spiritual 
 world with precious stones and other articles, the account, 
 so far from being in contradiction to the Sacred Writings, is 
 rather supported by them, as may be further seen in Ezekiel, 
 chap, xxviii. 11 to 18, where the king of Tyrus, (denoting the 
 church with respect to it's knowledges of good and truth, 
 derived from the literal sense of the Word,) is said to have 
 been in Eden the garden of God, ajid adorned with every 
 precious stone, being full of wisdom, and perfect in beauty, 
 ?itttil iniquity was found in him, and his merchandise and 
 traffick became sinful. 
 
 7. MAR- 
 
EMANUEL SWEDENBORGS WRITINGS. 49 
 
 7. MARRIED PEOPLE QUARREL IN THE OTHER WORLD. 
 
 It is next objected, that " married people quarrel in the 
 other world." This would have been indeed surprizing, if 
 nothing of the kind occurred in this world. But the objec- 
 tion evidently arises from total ignorance, on the part of 
 Mr. Pike, that man continues the same after death, as he 
 was before. He seems to think, when the material body, 
 the mere shell of humanity, is dropped, that the mind, which 
 is the real man, is also entombed in the same grave with 
 it, or else suffers such an unaccountable change in it's whole 
 frame and texture, that it is in a moment a new subject, 
 it's former thoughts, affections, and life, being at once 
 completely discarded, and in their stead new thoughts, new 
 affections, and a new life, as suddenly adopted. A senti- 
 ment this equally absurd with the supposition, that a man is 
 no longer the same man, when he puts olf his worn-out 
 garment, and exchanges it for a new and better one. 
 
 How different from such indigested and childish notions 
 is the account, which the great Swedenborg has given of 
 the state of man after the death of the body ! He instructs 
 us, not only from the reasonableness of the thing itself, 
 but from his own experience and observation, that "the 
 first state of man after death nearly resembles his last in 
 this life ; that he still retains the same face, speech, and 
 disposition, as he had before ; consequently that he is known 
 in the other world at first sight by such as had been his 
 friends and acquaintance in this ; and that they mutually 
 congratulate each other on these occasions." He further 
 adds, that " it is common for husband and wife to meet thus, 
 and to abide together for a longer or a shorter time, accor- 
 dingly as they had agreed in this world; but if they had 
 not lived together in conjugial love, which is an union of 
 minds from an heavenly principle, after some short stay 
 they are separated : but if they had lived in variance and 
 hatred, it is not unusual for them to break out into strife 
 
 G aod 
 
60 A VINDICATION OF 
 
 and quarrelling, even to fighting ; but nevertheless they 
 are not totally separated before they enter upon their second 
 state." Heav. and Hell, 493, 494. 
 
 The probability of this account, independent of the 
 authority of the writer, is certainly heightened by the 
 Sacred Scriptures themselves. When Abraham died, it 
 is said, that " he was gathered to his j)eople," Gen. xxv. 8. 
 The same is said of Ishmael, ver. 17 ; of Isaac, Gen. xxxv. 
 29 ; of Jacob, Gen. xlix. 29, 33 ; of Aaron, Numb. xx. 24, 
 26 ; and of Moses, Numb, xxvii. 13. Chap. xxxi. 2. 
 Deut. xxxii. 50. Likewise of the first generation of the 
 children of Israel, that entered into the land of Canaan, 
 it is said, that "they were gathered unto their fathers,^' 
 Judg. ii. 10. Now to be gathered to one's fathers, or to 
 one's people after death, evidently implies, that the deceased 
 meet and associate together as before, family with family, 
 kindred with kindred, children with parents, husbands with 
 wives : and if man retains the same propensities and dis- 
 positions as he had tl^e moment before his departure from 
 this life, can any thing be supposed more likely to take place 
 hereafter, than the exercise or manifestation of those tempers 
 and dispositions, of whatever nature or character they may 
 be ? The Scripture saith, that the works of a man follow him 
 beyond the grave ; by which is doubtless understood, that 
 they are repeated in another life, and for the same reason 
 that they were first transacted here, namely, because they 
 are the natural fruits of the tree which produces them. Man 
 is that tree, and will never cease producing such fruits as are 
 congenial with his real state of life, whether he be in the 
 natural or in the spiritual world. 
 
 8. DUTCHMEN AT^D THEIR WIVES LIVING SEPARATELY. 
 
 Mr. Pike and his anonymous prompter bring another 
 heavy charge against our author, and represent him as say- 
 ing, that " Dutchmen are living on one side of the street in 
 heaven, and their wives on the other." This is altogether a 
 
 false 
 
EMANUEL 8VVEDENBORCtS AVRITINGS. 51 
 
 false ckarge, and discreditable to the parties >vko m'^e it, 
 first, because it suppresses the most iiuportaut part of liie 
 passage alluded to, wliereby it is ijjade to speak of the Dutch 
 nation at large, without in the least r.oticiug tlie distinction 
 plainly stated by the author between those who live in mutual 
 and conjugial love, a^id those who do not; and secondly, 
 because, in defiance of tJie very title of the chapter, from 
 which it is extracted, and the express v/ords of the author, 
 repeated therein ao legs than nine times, that Ue is describ- 
 ing the state of the Holiajiiders in tlie spiritual world, and 
 not in heaven, it superadds tlietie last words, and represents 
 Swedeuborg as saying, that Dutch husbands and wives 
 live on contrary sides of the street in heaven. This conduct 
 in JVEr. Pike and his nameless principal is the more repre- 
 hensible, because Baron Swedenborg in the same chapter 
 distinctly states, that he is trea,ting of Hollanders not actually 
 in heaven, but only in a course of instruction for it below 
 heaven ; and that occasionally some of them are permitted 
 to ascend thither, alter which they again descend to their 
 associates, until finally prepared for the happiness of eternal 
 life. See JVne Christian Relirfion, 804. 
 
 That the reader, however, may judge for himself of the 
 loose manner, in which quotations are made from tlie writ- 
 ings of Swedeuborg, by persons as destitute of candour as 
 they are hostile to the truth, and whose only aim seems to be 
 the destruction of their neighbour's reputation, that they 
 may suppoi't their own tottering system of pharisaic ox soliti- 
 dian theology, we shall here annex the passage, which has 
 been so miserably garbled, as it stands in n. 805 of the work 
 above mentioned. After speaking of the cities in which the 
 Hollanders live in the spiritual ivorid, and before they are 
 fully prepared for elevation into heaven, the author proceeds 
 as follows: " Wives, who atlect authority over their husbands, 
 dwell on one side of tlie city, (not on one side of the street, 
 as pretended by Mr. Pike,) and never meet with their 
 Jmsbands unless biv particular invitation in the way of re- 
 spect and civility, and on such occasions tlie husbands lead 
 
 G 2 them 
 
52 A VINDICATION OF 
 
 them to houses, where the married pairs \i\e without aftect- 
 ing any authority over each other, and shew how elegant and 
 neat their houses are, and how happily they live together, 
 informing them at the same time that this is the consequence 
 of mutual and ccujugial love. Such wives as are atten- 
 tive to, and affected with, these things, cease to claim any 
 dominion over their husbands for the future, and are admitted 
 to live with them ; and in this case they have an habitation 
 allotted them nearer the middle of the city, and are called, 
 angels ; the reason whereof is, because true conjugial love 
 is a celestial love, which affecteth no dominion." 
 
 9. TABLES FOR EXPLOSION. 
 
 The next charge is, that tables are in heaven for burst- 
 ing in explosions on those wjio lay too much stress on faith." 
 This again is a misrepresentation of the author's words and~ 
 meaning : he does not sav, that such tables are in heaven, 
 but helow heaven, in that world which is intermediate between 
 heaven and hell. The substance of the case is given as fol- 
 lows : " There is a place not far from hence, illuminated by 
 a direct influx of light from heaven, in the midst whereof 
 there is a table, on which if any piece of writing be placed, 
 that containeth in it any truth derived from the Word, by 
 virtue of that truth the Avriting instantly shineth like a star." 
 He then goes on to state, that if a person, who is not in 
 genuine truth, but in the habit of perverting the divine truth 
 of the Word, should " fix his eyes attentively on the paper, 
 the light suddenly disappears, and the paper becomes black, 
 as if it had been in the smoke of a furnace." He afterwards 
 describes another place, still in the intermediate state be- 
 tween heaven and hell, called the world of spirits, where is 
 also a table, " on which lies the Word, decorated on all 
 sides with precious stones in celestial arrangement, from 
 which there darteth light of inexpressible brightness every 
 time the Word is opened. But if any pcson approaches who 
 hath falsified the Word, the brightness instantly vanishes, 
 
 and 
 
EMANUEL SWEDENBORGS WRITINGS. 53 
 
 and if he approaches iiearez*, and fixes his eyes on the Word, 
 it seems as if it were covered over Avith blood ; and when 
 this is the case, he is admonished, at his peril, to stay there 
 no longer. A certain person, however, (it is observed,) who, 
 during- his abode on earth, had been much distinguished for 
 his writings in favour of the doctrine of justification })y faith 
 alone, approached the table, boasting, that he had never 
 falsified the Word, and in the confidence of this assertion, 
 in spite of the caution given him by an angel, touched the ' 
 Word ; when, lo ! there was a sudden efflux of fire and 
 smoke from the Word, attended with a loud explosion, 
 whereby he was thrown into a distant corner of the apart- 
 ment, and lay there for the space of an hour as if he had 
 been dead." See True Christian Religion, 162, 209. 
 
 Considering now the divine sanctity of the Word, and 
 that it constitutes the presence of the Lord himself in his 
 church, where is the impropriety or improbability of such a 
 relation as the preceding, which describes the power and 
 effect of divine truth on those who falsify and profane it? Is 
 not the same thing in substance related in the Word itself? 
 When the ark of God, containing the Word, was taken by 
 the Philistines, and placed in the house of Dagon their false 
 god, it was found on the morrow, that " Dagon was fallen 
 upon his face to the earth, before the ark of the Lord." The 
 experiment was tried a second time : " They took Dagon, 
 and set him in his place again. And when they arose early 
 on the morrow morning, behold, Dagon was fallen upon his 
 face to the ground, before the ark of the Lord: and the head 
 of Dagon, and both the palms of his hands, were cut off 
 upon the threshold, only the stump of Dagon was left to him." 
 I Sam. V. 1 to 4. In the following verses of the same 
 chapter it is further related, that the enemies of divine 
 truth could not endure the presence of the ark of the God 
 of Israel; that the hand of the Lord was heavy upon the 
 men of Ashdod, of Gath, and of Ekron; that he smote them 
 with emerods, and brought upon them a very great destruc- 
 tion ; until at length they gathered together all the lords of 
 
 - • \hv: 
 
54 A VINDICATION OF 
 
 the Philistines, and said, " Send away the ark of the God 
 of Isi-ael, and let it go again to it's own place, that it slay 
 ns not, and our people," ver. 11. 
 
 We further read, that " he smote the men of Beth- 
 shemesh, because they had looked into the ark of the Lord, 
 even he smote of the people fifty thousand and threescore 
 and ten men : atid the people lamented, because tlie Lord 
 had smitten liiany of the people with a great slaughter. And 
 the men of Beth-shemesh said. Who is able to stand before 
 this holy Lord God V 1 Sam. vi. 19, 20. 
 
 Another remarkable ilastauce of divine judgment executed 
 <!>n the person of one, who inadvertently ventured to touch 
 the ark of the Lord, whri<yh contained tlie Holy Word, was 
 that of Uzzali, one of the sons of Abiuadab, who with his 
 lirother Ahio was appointed to drive the cart that bore it to- 
 wkrds the city of David. Being on their journey, it is 
 written, that " when they caDie to Nachou's threshing-floor, 
 Uzzah put forth bis hand to the ark of (lod, and took hold 
 df it, for the oxen shook it. And the anger of the Lord 
 was kindled against Uzzah, and God srnote him there for his 
 error, and there he died by the ark of God." 2 Sam. vi. 6, 7. 
 
 In each of these cases it is evident, that a certain 
 unfitness of state in the persons treated of, arising either 
 from the idolatry of their worship, or from a too curious and 
 unsanctified desire to look into the ark, or from an arrogant 
 confidence in the merit of self-righteousness, had totally dis- 
 qiialified tliem from susfeiining the divine presence, which 
 Twas in a peculiar manner displayed in and around the ark. 
 Whether they came near it, or looked into it, or touched it, 
 the result was equally dreadful and fatal. 
 
 The same danger -Rlio threatened the Israelites, when 
 the Lord came down in t!ie sight of all the peo])le, upon 
 njount Sinai. The following caution was therefore given 
 them: "Take heed to yourselves, tliat ye go not up into 
 the mount, or touch the border of it: whosoever toucheth 
 the mount, shall be surely put to death." And again, "The 
 Lord said unto Moses, Go down, charge the people, lest 
 
 they 
 
EMANUEL SWEDENBORG's WRITINGS. 55 
 
 they break througli unto the Lord to gaze, and many of 
 them perish.-' Exod. xix. 12, 21, 
 
 After these examples, and another winch might be 
 nrged, all taken from the Sacred Scriptures, of the extreme 
 danger of approaching the tree of life, around which cheru- 
 bim, and a flaming sword which turns every way, are placed. 
 Gen. iii. 24, without due preparation by repentance and 
 deep humiliation of heart and life, will Mr. Pike still persist 
 in holding up to ridicule and contempt a man, who by his 
 extiaordinary writings has done more to explain the Divine 
 Records, and to recommend them to the approbation of 
 mankind, than any writer or commentator since the days of 
 the apostles ? What is there in his account of the ^'^ tables 
 for explosion (as Mr. Pike calls them) against those who lay 
 too much stress on faith," and pay but little attention to a 
 life of charity, which is the essence of all religion, that 
 differs in substance from the several cases above cited? Is 
 it not plain, that the circumstances described by Baron 
 Swedenborg as taking place in the spiritual world, in prool" 
 of the astonishing power of the Word, have their foundation 
 in the Word itself? since it is reasonable to believe, that 
 the things transacted in former times, among the Jewish or 
 Israelitish people, are intended as examples of what still 
 continues, and v/ill ever continue, to mark tlie distinction 
 between the effects of divine truth upon those who give it a 
 cordial reception, and those who in the pride of self-derived 
 intelligence falsify, pervert, and profane it. The reader, 
 therefore, may fairly conclude, that the objection, which Mr. 
 Pike has thought proper to urge against the testimony of 
 Baron Swedenborg on the subject now discussed, is no less 
 than a direct attack, it is to be hoped ignorantly and inad- 
 vertently, on the Sacred Scriptures themselves. 
 
 10. ERRORS IN HEAVEN. 
 
 It is further charged on our honourable and illustrious 
 
 author, that he asserts "there are errors in heaveiu" A 
 
 . short 
 
56 A VINDICATION OF 
 
 short answer will suffice for this, taken from the book of Job, 
 which is admitted by the objector himself to be conclusive 
 authority. " Shall mortal man be more just than God J shall 
 a man be more pure than his Maker? Behold, he put no 
 trust in his servants ; and his angels he charged tvlth folly,'' 
 Job iv. 17, 18. Again, " Behold, he putteth no trust in 
 his saints ; yea, the heavens are not clean in his sight,'' 
 chap. XV. 15. And again, " The stars are not pure in 
 his sight: how much less man that is a worm," chap. 
 XXV. 5, G. Here the heavens are charged not only 
 with folly or error in the understanding, but also with 
 uncleanness or impurity in the affections. But this is to 
 be taken comparatively: for angels, as we have already 
 proved, being but men, though men purified by regene- 
 ration from the gross corruptions of their nature, are still 
 defective in wisdom and in love ; they still fall infinitely 
 short of absolute perfection ; and therefore it is with great 
 propriety that the Psalmist exclaims, " Who in the heaven 
 can be compared unto Jehovah I Who among the sons of the 
 mighty can be likened unto Jehovah?" Ps. Ixxxix. 6. Unto 
 that Jehovah, " who humbleth himself to behold the things 
 that are in heaven r Ps. cxiii. 6. And at whose presence 
 not only " the earth shakes," but " the heavens also drop" as 
 it were into nothing I Ps. Ixviii. 8. 
 
 11. EFFECTS OF THE BAPTISM OF INFANTS. 
 
 Again, Mr. Pike complains, that according to Baron 
 Swedenborg, " infants are baptized in heaven." The reader 
 is requested to observe, that the complainant professes him- 
 self to be a Baptist, more properly an Antipcedohaptisi, or 
 one who disapproves of the baptism of infants even on earth: 
 what wonder then is it that he should betray his aversion to 
 that ceremony, although performed by angels in heaven I 
 But is the charge true, that Swedenborg asserts the baptism 
 of infants in heaven after their departure from the natural 
 world ? It is altogether untrae, there being no such an as* 
 
 sertion 
 
EMANUEL SWEDENBORG*S WRITINGS. ^7 
 
 sertion in any part of his writings. Speaking indeed of the 
 uses of baptism on earth, and it's effects both in the natural 
 and in the spiritual world, he observes, that " the first use of 
 baptism is introduction into the Christian church, and at the 
 same time insertion amongst Christians in the spiritual world." 
 Then, after remarking upon the uses on earth, he proceeds 
 to shew the effects of the same baptism even in the heavens, 
 infants being introduced thereby into the Christian heaven. 
 " Wherefore, (says he,) as soon as infants are baptized, they 
 are placed under the tuition of angels, by whom they are 
 kept in a state of receiving faith in the Lord ; and as they 
 grow up, and become capable of thinking and acting for 
 themselves, the tutor-angels leave them, and they draw into 
 association with themselves such spirits as make one with 
 their life and faith. Hence it is evident, that baptism is an 
 insertion amongst Christians even in the spiritual ivorld." 
 Tr. Chr. Rel. 677. 
 
 That the ceremony of baptism, which is a divine insti- 
 tution, should have the power of extending it's effects even 
 to the spiritual world, is a doctrine so far from being un- 
 supported by the Sacred Scriptures, that it is rather incul- 
 cated by them, as plainly appears from our Lord's words 
 first to Peter, and afterwards to the rest of his disciples : 
 " Whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth, shall be bound in 
 heaven ; and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth, shall be 
 loosed in heaven," Matt. xvi. 19. Chap, xviii. 38. And again 
 in another place, " I say unto you, there is joy in heaven, 
 in the presence of the angels" of God, over one sinner that 
 repenteth," Luke xv. 7, 10. From these passages there is 
 good reason to believe, that every external act of man, 
 which is performed in obedience to the divine will, especially 
 if it be an act of piety or religious worship, must have an 
 effect far beyond what is usually ascribed to it; in short, that 
 while it is done in the sight of men on earth, it is at the 
 same time noticed or perceived by angels in heaven. And if 
 so, it follows, that the baptism of infants is not only, as 
 Swedenborg justly observes, an introduction into the visible 
 
 H church 
 
58 A VINDICATION OF 
 
 church on earth, but also a kind of proclamation even among* 
 angels, that the person baptized is henceforth to be ranked 
 among-, and instructed by, those who believe in and worship 
 the true God manifested in the ffesh. 
 
 12. THE LORD APPEARS IN HEAVEN AS A SUN BEFORE 
 THE RIGHT EYE, AND AS A MOON BEFORE THE LEFT. 
 
 The last charge, included under Mr. Pike's second 
 head of objections to the testimony of Baron Swedenborg, 
 is. That he says, " the Lord appears in heaven as a sun 
 before the right eye, and as a moon before the left." How- 
 ever strange this may appear to the uninstructed concerning 
 the mystical body of Christ, which is so much spoken of in 
 the Apostolic Writings, there is yet no difficulty in the 
 subject with those who believe, that that body is constituted 
 by the members of the church, whether it be in heaven or on 
 earth, and that each has his situation therein, either to the 
 right or to the left, according to the quality of the life re- 
 ceived by him from the Lord. The apostle Paul, in his first 
 address to the Corinthians, writes as follows : " Know ye 
 not that your bodies are the members of Christ .'*" 1 Cor. vi. 
 15. "We being many, are one bread, and one body,'' 1 Cor. 
 X. 17. " Now ye are the body of Christ, and members in 
 particular," 1 Cor. xii. 27. Again, " We being many are 
 one body in Christ, and every one members one of another," 
 Rom. xii. 5. " That the Gentiles should be fellow-heirs, and 
 of the same body, and partakers of the promise in Christ," 
 Eph. iii. 6. " He gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; 
 and some, evangelists ; and some, pastors and teachers ; for 
 the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, 
 for the edifying of the body of Christ," Eph. iv. 11, 12. 
 " And he is the head of the body, the church," Col. i. 18. 
 Seeing now that the church on earth, and by parity of reason 
 the kingdom of heaven above, which is the church in a still 
 purer state than with men below, is considered by the 
 apostle, and expressly declared to be the body of Christ, 
 
 how 
 
EMANUEL SWEDENBORG's WRITINGS. ^9 
 
 how plain must it appear to every intelligent mind, that the in- 
 dividuals composing- this universal church are distributed into 
 the various provinces, organs, or members of that spiritual 
 body, whose life and soul is the Lord himself! consequently 
 that some are in the province of the head, others in that of 
 the trunk, and others again in that of the feet! and moreover 
 that in each particular province or member some are situated 
 to the right, and others to the left, and so in endless variety, 
 according to the genius and capacity of each to perform such 
 and such uses, as the several parts of the human body cor- 
 respond to ! 
 
 This may be illustrated by the case of a nation or king- 
 dom on earth, in which the king or first magistrate may be 
 regarded as the head, the executive power in general as the 
 arms, the higher and middle classes of society as the breast 
 and <rM«^, the labourers, .&c. as the legs and yeef, and all 
 together as one connected hody politic. Now in heaven this 
 arrangement is regulated according to the spiritual states of 
 it's inhabitants ; those who are more particularly under the 
 influence of love and affection being situated therein to the 
 right, while those who are distinguished for their knowledge 
 and intelligence take their places to the left of that spiritual 
 or mystical body, of which mention has already been made. 
 It is further to be noted, that the Lord, who is expressly 
 called a sun in Ps. Ixxxiv. 11 ; Mai. iv. 2 ; Apoc, i. 17 ; 
 and is likened both to a sun and to a 7noon in Isa. xxx. 26, 
 is seen either as the one or as the other according to the 
 state of the beholder, and the situation which he occupies 
 in heaven. ( * ) If he be situated in the right side of that 
 spiritual body before alluded to, in other words, if he be 
 more particularly under the influence of love to the Lord, 
 
 he 
 
 ( * ) The existence of a sun in tbe spiritaal or intellectual world, as well as in 
 the natural or sensible world, was well known to the wise men of antiquity, tbougli 
 little suspected in modern times. Empedonles, an ancient philosopher, who lived 
 about four hundred and fifty years before the Christian Era, maintained, that there 
 a^e two worlds, the one intellectual, the other sensible ; and that the former of these 
 
 IT 2 is 
 
60 A VINDICATION O*' 
 
 he tlien beholds him as a sun, the Lord being so called with 
 respect to his divine love : but if he be situated in the left 
 side of the same spiritual body, that is to say, if he be more 
 particularly distinguished for his intelligence and faith, he 
 then beholds the Lord as a moon, this term having" respect 
 also to the Lord as the source of spiritual light, though in 
 an inferior degree to that of the sun. It is in this way we 
 are to understand the words of Baron Swedenborg, when he 
 says, that " the Lord appears as a sun before the right eye, 
 and as a moon before the left." Not that he is seen doubly 
 by one and the same individual, as a sun before his right eye, 
 and at the same time as a moon before his left : but that, 
 while an angel directs the vision of both eyes to one point, if 
 he be on the right side of heaven, then the Lord appears to 
 the individual as a siin ; and if on the left, then he appears 
 to him as a moon ; and this by reason of his so appearing 
 before the right and left eye, respectively, oi the grand man, 
 called by the apostle the body of Christ, or the church uni- 
 versal. 
 
 If Mr. Pike cannot comprehend this explanation, he 
 must be left to enjoy his incapacity : but let him at least be 
 given to understand, that while he attempts to ridicule the 
 sublime ideas of an author like Swedenborg, he is only betray- 
 ing his own ignorance of the spiritual things relating to 
 heaven, and his total inattention to the language contained 
 in the Apostolic Writings. 
 
 is the exemplar and archetype of the latter. He also said, there are two suns, the 
 one archetypal or intellectual, the other apparent or sensible ; tliat is, the one 
 spiritual, and the other natural. His own words are, " cvo iiXit^Q, TOV Utv 
 kp-vtTVTTOV, TOV (it (patvofiii'ov." See Dr. Cudworth's Jntelledual System, 
 p. 25. 
 
 SECTION 
 
EMANUEL SWEDENBORGS WRITINGS. 61 
 
 SECTION IV. 
 
 1 . The spiritual Sense of the Word heretofore not 
 known in the Church. — 2. Hoiv far the Apostles 
 were acquainted ivith that Sense. 
 
 1. THE SPIRITUAL SENSE OF THE WORD. 
 
 JlT is next objected, p. 5, 6, that the view, which Swe- 
 denborg g-ives of tlie Scriptures, is absolutely contrary to 
 the account of their design and efficacy, which is presented 
 in that holy volume." And as a proof of this the objector 
 endeavours to form a contrast between what the apostle Paul 
 says of the Scriptures, taken in a natural or general sen&e, 
 and what Swedenborg says of them as to their spiritual or 
 particular sense. The apostle justly observes, that "all 
 Scripture (meaning* all Divine Scripture) is given by inspi- 
 ration of God; and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, 
 for correction, for instruction in righteousness ; that the man 
 of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good 
 works," 2 Tim. iii. 16, 17. This is no where denied by 
 Emanuel Swedenborg, but is rather demonstrated and con- 
 firmed by the whole tenour of his writings. Yet Mr. Pike, 
 no doubt under the influence of a strong desire to bring him 
 into discredit with the public, fansies and jJ^rsuades himself, 
 that he has discovered a contradiction to the apostle in the 
 following words of the Baron : "In the Word there is a 
 spiritual sense heretofore unknown : owing to this sense the 
 Word is divinely inspired, and holy in every syllable." Tr. 
 Chr. Rel. 193. " It's holiness doth not appear in it's 
 literal sense. That the Word of God should not be rejected 
 as a common trivial writing, the Lord hath revealed it's 
 spiritual sense." Tr, Chr. Rel. 200. " No one hereto- 
 fore 
 
62 A VINDICATION OF 
 
 fore hatli had the least idea tliat there is in the Word any- 
 spiritual sense." Tr. Chr. Rel. 776. These are detach- 
 ed and unconnected quotations : but the last is mutilated, 
 and Mr. Pike appears wilfully to have suppressed the quali- 
 fication which immediately follows, viz. according to the 
 truth and reality, in luhich it existeth." 
 
 Many pious writers have indeed supposed, that there is 
 some kind of a spiritual sense in the Sacred Scriptures ; but 
 they were not apprized of the real nature of that sense, and 
 therefore Swedenborg has well observed, that heretofore it 
 was unknown according to the truth and reality in which it 
 exists. He also explains the nature of this spiritual sense, 
 and in a great variety of examples shews, that the literal 
 sense is unintelligible without recourse to another sense, which 
 lies concealed within it, comparatively as the soul of a man 
 is concealed within his body. Thus, when it is said, that 
 the Lord will come in the clouds of heaven with power and 
 gi'eat glory, Matt. xxiv. 30, he proves by numerous pas- 
 sages from the Word itself, that by the clouds of heaven is 
 meant it's literal sense, and by power and glory it's spiritual 
 sense. Also when mention is made of the sun being dark- 
 ened, the moon turned into blood, and the stars falling 
 from heaven, Joel ii. 31 ; Matt. xxiv. 29, he clearly demon- 
 strates, that by such language we are not literally to under- 
 stand the sun, moon, and stars of the visible firmament, 
 but spiritual things corresponding thereto. So again, when 
 it is written, that God rode upon horses, and walked through 
 the sea with his horses, Hab. iii. 3, 8, 15; that he will smite 
 every horse with astonishment, and his rider with madness, 
 and will smite every horse of the people with blindness, 
 Zech. xii. 4; that the tribe of Judah is a lion; Issa- 
 char, a strong ass ; Dan, a serpent by the way, an adder in 
 the path, biting the horse's heels, so that his rider falls back- 
 ward ; Naphtali, a hind let loose ; Joseph, a fruitful bough 
 near a well, with branches running over the wall ; while 
 Benjamin is said to ravin as a wolf. Gen. xlix. 9, 14, 17, 21, 
 22, 27 ; that Ephra,im is a cake not turned, a silly dove with- 
 out 
 
EMANUEL SWEDENBORG's WRITINGS. 03 
 
 out heart, and an heifer that is taught, Hosea vii. 8, 11 : 
 chap. X. 11 ; that the Jews in general are sei*peuts, and 
 a generation of vipers, Matt, xxiii. 33 ; that all the feathered 
 fowl and beasts of the field are invited to the table of the 
 Lord God, where they are to be filled with horses and chariots, 
 with mighty men, and with all men of war, to eat fat till 
 they are full, and drink blood till they are drunken, Ezek. 
 xxxix. 17 to 20. Apoc. xix. 17, 18; that Jehovah shall hiss 
 for the fly of Egypt, and for the bee of Assyria; that he shall 
 also shave with a hired razor, ])y the king of Assyria, the 
 head, and the hair of the feet, Isa. vii. 18, 20 ; that a man 
 must hate his father and mother, his wife and children, 
 brethren and sisters, in order to become a disciple of Jesus 
 Christ, Luke xiv. 26 ; although he is elsewhere commanded 
 to honour and love them, Exod. xx. 12. John xiii. 34, 35 ; 
 that the city New Jerusalem, descending from heaven, is 
 twelve thousand furlongs in length, breadth, and height, 
 that is, fifteen hundred miles each way, Apoc. xxi. 16 ; — in 
 all these cases, and a hundred others which cannot possibly 
 be understood according to the literal expressions, the same 
 author proves, and every intelligent person who reveres the 
 Divine Word must admit, that things of a spiritual or hea- 
 venly nature are intended to be represented and signified by 
 them ; things which do not manifestly appear in the language 
 made use of, but which are concealed therein, like jewels 
 within a casket, and discoverable only by the science of cor- 
 respondences, which unfolds the true spiritual sense, and 
 presents every part of the Sacred Scriptures as worthy of 
 their Divine Author, who himself says, " The words that I 
 speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life" John vi. 63. 
 Mr. Pike, however, has no idea of the necessity of any 
 spiritual sense, and seems disposed to rest contented with the 
 mere letter. He must consequently believe, that God lite- 
 rally rides upon a horse, and upon the clouds ; that some of 
 the sons of Jacob were lions, asses, calves, and serpents ; 
 that Joseph was the branch of a tree ; that Benjamin acted 
 tb^ part of a wolf; that Ephraim was a cake, a silly dove, 
 
 and 
 
64 A VINDICATION OF 
 
 and an heifer ; that the Jews were a nation of serpents and 
 vipers ; that birds and beasts are to dine at the table of the 
 ffreat God : that Jehovah is to hiss for flies and bees, and to 
 shave men with a razor hired for the purpose ; that Christians 
 are bound to treat their parents, wives, children, brothers, 
 and sisters, with hatred and contempt, and at the same time 
 to love them as themselves ; that they are on certain occasions 
 to cut off their right hands, and to pluck out their right eyes ; 
 that they are to call no man upon earth either father or master ; 
 that paupers are saved in preference to men of property ; 
 and that a city, fifteen hundred miles in length, in breadth, and 
 in height, will actually descend from heaven, and light upon 
 the earth, according to the description given in the book of 
 Revelation. Judging likewise that the apostles entertained 
 the same gross ideas with himself concerning the Scriptures, 
 he exultingly exclaims, " Is not that sense of the Word, 
 with which apostles and martyrs were acquainted, and in 
 which they rejoiced, sufficient for us?" p. 6. Allowing it to 
 be sufficient for Mr. Pike and his friends, does it follow, 
 that no higher and more interior discoveries of divine truth 
 were ever to be communicated to the church, than those 
 which accompanied the first dawning of Christianity? The 
 apostle himself says, " We know in part, and we prophesy 
 ill part : but when that which is perfect is come, then that 
 which is in part shall be done away : for now we see through 
 a glass darkly,''' 1 Cor. xiii. 9, 10, 12. 
 
 2. HOW FAR THE APOSTLES WERE ACQUAINTED WITH 
 THE SPIRITUAL SENSE. 
 
 To suppose that the apostles and primitive Christians 
 were fully acquainted with the interior sense of the Holy 
 Word, and that in their Epistles or Letters to the different 
 churches they had exhausted the treasures of wisdom, which 
 it contains, is a position altogether childish and absurd. 
 They knew indeed, that the history of Abraham's two sons, 
 Tshxnael and Isaac, was an allegorical description of the 
 
 two 
 
EMANUEL SWEDENBORG's WRITINGS. 65 
 
 two dispensations of the law and the gospel, Gal. iv. 22 to 
 31. They knew also, that the prophecy of Joel concerning 
 the sun being turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, 
 was fulfilled spiritually, and not literally, at the day of pen- 
 tecost. Acts ii. 16, 20. And it is probable that they regar- 
 ded the rest of the Sacred Scriptures as having a spiritual 
 as well as a literal sense. But it does not appear from any 
 of their writings, which have reached our times, that they 
 were at all acquainted with the science of correspondences, 
 which is the true key to the spiritual sense of the Word; and 
 consequently they have left unexplained a thousand difficult 
 passages, which the pious and well-disposed members of the 
 church iu all ages have been desirous of understanding. And 
 now, when proof is offered not only of the actual existence of 
 a spiritual sense, heretofore unknown, in every part of the 
 Word, but of it's efficacy in reconciling apparent contradic- 
 tions, in removing difficulties that embarrass the pious reader, 
 and in giving importance and sanctity to those parts, which 
 are too frequently regarded as trivial and unworthy of their 
 Divine Author, it is contumeliously refused by Mr. Pike, 
 who pretends, that the Word is in no danger whatever of 
 being treated as a common or trivial writing, although he 
 knows that Deists and Skeptics have rejected it on that very 
 ground. 
 
 The danger, to which Swedenborg alludes, and which 
 he is so anxious to avert, by representing the Scriptures in a 
 more amiable point of view, than commentators have here- 
 tofore done, Mr. Pike, in a manner most unbecoming the 
 character of a Christian minister, treats with the utmost con- 
 tempt, and with equal ignorance asserts, that Swedenborg 
 and the apostle Paul are at variance with each other, because 
 the one says, that " the Word of God has an internal spiritual 
 sense," and the other, that " all Scripture is given by inspira- 
 tion of God ; that it is able to make men wise unto salvation; 
 that it is profitable for instruction in righteousness, that the 
 man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all 
 good works." This view of the Scriptures by the apostle, 
 
 I ' and 
 
66 A VINDICATION OF 
 
 and Swedenborgs honourable testimony to their inherent sanc- 
 tity and divinity, are declared by Mr. Pike to be " as opposite, 
 to each other, as light and darkness !" " Both (says he) can- 
 not be true;" and as it is his object to depreciate, in evei'y 
 possible way, the character and sentiments of the Swedish 
 theologian, he thus virtually proclaims his total disbelief in 
 the internal sanctity and divinity of the V/ord of God. When 
 Swedenborg shews, that the command to hate our father and 
 mother, is compatible with that other injunction, which re- 
 quires us to love all men, even our enemies, and that in the 
 fonner case the father and mother to be hated are our here- 
 ditary propensities and inclinations to what is evil and false, 
 which produce acts of wickedness as their offspring, he re- 
 jects the interpretation, calling it " /««" internal sense, and 
 chooses rather to abide in the letter which killeth, than to 
 open his eyes to the spirit which giveth life and salvation. 
 Such however is the way, in which Mr. Pike justifies his 
 pretensions to advocate the cause of Christianity, and to 
 secure the best interests of society. 
 
 SECTION V. 
 
 1. Swedenborg- charged with denying the Inspira- 
 tion of a great Part of the Word. — 2. Aiid with 
 rejecting the Apostolic Writings. 
 
 1. THE BOOKS OF THE WORD. 
 
 Swedenborg is next charged, p. 6, 7, wltli " deny- 
 ing the inspiration of a great part of the Divine Word," 
 because he distinguishes between those books which have 
 an internal sense, and tLose which have not, pronouncing 
 t!.e former, and not the latter, to be of divine authority. 
 
EMANUEL SWEDENBORGS WHITINGS. 67 
 
 On this subject I would ask, By what rule of evidence does 
 Mr. Pike form his judgment of a divine writing t Has he 
 any other to appeal to, than the uncertain and flucluating 
 decisions of the Romish Church i What foundation has he 
 for his belief in the sanctity and divinity of any particular 
 books, except the opinions of fallible men, sitting to debate 
 the question among themselves, and deciding by a majority 
 of votes at one time that such and such a book is divine, 
 and at another time that tiie very same book is destitute of 
 that character ; thus extending or diminishing the number 
 of inspired writings, not by a reference to any internal evi- 
 dence, like that of the spiritual sense contained witliin them, 
 nor to the words of the Lord in Luke xxiv. 44, which form 
 the rule of judgment in this case, but by the caprice of 
 the moment, or the induence of a prevailing party in the 
 church? (*) Even in the Established Church of this coun- 
 try are not the apocryphal books, at least seven of them, 
 recommended and read in the national churches equally 
 with those which are acknowledged to be canonical.' (f) 
 
 And 
 
 (*) It does not appear, that even the Jews were always agreed in opinion con- 
 cerning the books generally received by them ; some, which are now regnrded as 
 oationical, being once deemed apocryphal, or of doubtful authority. Rabbi Nathan, 
 speaking of the Proveths, Solomon's Song, and Ecdeslasles, observes, " Tu former 
 times it was said of these books, that they are a^>ocnjphai." See Midiadh, lutrod. 
 vol. 1, p. 71. 
 
 (t) These books are Toh'tt, Jnditli, the book of Wisdom, Erdesiastiitis, Baitirh, 
 History of Susanua, History of Bel and the Drajou, The lessons appoiiiltd for the 
 30th day of September, and the 1st of October, in every year, are the 6th and 8th 
 chapters of the Apocryphal book, called Tobit, wherein is detailed the mode how a 
 devil or an evil spirit is to be driven away from a man or a woman, namelv, hr 
 burning the heart and liver of a fish, and making a smoke therewith, so that the 
 devil may smell it ; and as he cannot endure the scent, this instructive lesson, given 
 as from the mouth of an angel, asserts, that the devil will instantly depart, and 
 " the party," whom he before troubled with his presence, " shall be no more 
 vexed." Is this suitable doctrine for a Christian congregation ? 
 
 The book o( Judith is supposed by Grotins to be entirely a parabolical fiction, 
 written in the time of Antiochus Epiphaues, when he came into Judea to raise a 
 persecution against the Jewish Chuicii, and that the design of it was to confirm 
 the Jews under that persecution in their hopes, that God would send them a de- 
 liverance. And he says, "That therein by Judith is meant Jadea; by fyihulia, 
 
 I 2 l»>e 
 
68 A VINDICATION OF 
 
 And with respect to the New Testament in particular, what 
 reason is assigned by the Church of England for admitting- 
 the Letters or Epistles of the different apostles among the 
 books of divine inspiration ? None whatever, except that 
 of general custom, which in itself is no reason at all. 
 
 The truth appears to be, that neither the Romish nor 
 Protestant Churches have to this day clearly understood 
 what it is that constitutes a divine book : they have not suffi- 
 ciently considered the purport of our Lord's words to bis 
 disciples, when he told them, that " all the Scriptures ivere 
 written concertiing himself;'' and that the books, which he 
 acknowledged as the Scriptures of divine truth, to be ful- 
 filled in his own person, were those comprehended under 
 the titles of " the Law of Moses, the Prophets, and the 
 Psalms :" see Luke xxiv. 27, 44. Thus our Lord has him- 
 self laid down the rale, by which we are to judge of those 
 books and writings, which alone deserve to be honoured by 
 the church as divine, viz. That in their inmost sense they 
 treat solely of him. Now in many parts of the books of 
 Moses, the Prophets, and the Psalms, no allusion whatever 
 is made, in the literal sense of the expressions used, either 
 to the Lord incarnate, or to his sufferings, death, and re- 
 surrection ; and yet he came into the world to fulfil in his 
 
 the temple, or house of God ; and by the sioord, which went out from thence, the 
 prayers of the saints : That Nabuchodonosor doth there denote the devil, and the 
 kingdom o( Assyria tlie devil's kingdom, pride : That by Holofernes is tliere meant 
 the instrument or agent of the devil in that persecution, Antiochus Epiphanes, who 
 made himself master of Judea, that fair leidow, so called, because destitute of re- 
 lief: That B/ueiktm signifies God, who would arise in her defence, and at length cut 
 olT that instrument of the devil, who would have corrupted her." 
 
 There are many other learned writers, who agree with Grotins in tlie general, 
 that this book is rather a parabolical, than a real history, made for the instructing 
 and comforting of the people of the Jews under that figure, and not to give them a 
 narrative of any thing really done. And their reason for it is, that they think it 
 utterly inconsistent with all times, where it has been endeavoured to be placed, 
 either before or after the captivity of the Jews. 
 
 Grotius and others also think, that the book called Baruch is a mere fiction by 
 some Hellenistical Jew, and contains nothing of a real history. See Pridemix's Co» 
 nection, &c. vol. 1. p. 62. 
 
EMANUEL SWEDENRORGS WRITINGS. 69 
 
 own person the whole and every particular part of the Sacred 
 Scriptures, as it is written, " The Word, which in the he- 
 ginning was with God, and was God, was made flesh, and 
 dwelt among us," John i. 1, 14. And again, " All ihings 
 must be fulfilled, whicl> were v/ritten in the l^w of Moses, 
 and in the Prophets, and in the Psalms, concerning me,'' 
 Luke xxiv. 44. There must therefore be an internal spi- 
 ritual sense belonging to the Word, not apparent in the 
 letter ; and without a doubt the Lord must have opened the 
 understanding of his disciples to discern that sense, accord- 
 ing to their measure, when, " beginning at Moses, and all 
 the Prophets, he expounded unto them in all the Scriptures 
 the things concerning himself,'' Luke xxiv. 27. 
 
 The same rule, which so well applies to the Old Testa- 
 ment, may also be applied to the New ; and by it we are 
 enabled to distinguish those books, which are absolutely 
 divine to the very letter, in consequence of being dictated 
 by God himself, from those which, tlsough excellent in their 
 kiud, are yet only the productions of good and pious men. 
 Of the former description are the four Gospels and the 
 A-pocalypse ; of the latter, are the Acts of the Apostles, 
 and the Letters which they wrote to the different churches, 
 to encourage and confirm them in the cause of Christianity. 
 
 The reader may now see the true scriptural ground 
 and reason why the New Church discriminates between those 
 books which are divine, and those which are merely human, 
 though in many respects deservedly to be esteemed ; while 
 neither Mr. Pike, nor his Dissenting brethren, nor the 
 Church of England, nor the Church of Rome, nor any othei' 
 body of professing Christians so called, can give any reason 
 whatever, beyond that of blind custom, for placing on a fevel 
 with each other productions so widely different in their cha- 
 racter and complexion, as those are which form wbat m 
 usually called the Bible. '^'^^- ^ -- 
 
 The argument urged by Mr. Pike in favour of the 
 indiscriminate admission into the canon of Sacred Scripture 
 of books authorized by the Lord himself, and of tho§e which 
 
 are 
 
70 A VINDICATION OF 
 
 are not so authorized, is childish and ridiculous in the ex- 
 treme. He quotes the words of the apostle Paul, where 
 he says! " All Scripture is given by inspiration of God," 
 2 Tim. iii. 16; as if the apostle meant, either that his own 
 wiitings, or any others the mere production of human saga- 
 city, were comprehended under the expression of all Scrip- 
 ture ! At this rate the story of Tobias and iiis dog, of 
 Bel and the dragon, and oven the traditions of the Jews, 
 which rendered vain and oi" none effect the commandments 
 of God, are equally to be regarded as works of divine in- 
 spiration with the Holy Word itself; for these are all in- 
 cluded in the term Scripture, which simply means a Writing. 
 And if all writings are of divine inspiration, then it will 
 follow, that even Mr. Pike's, Mr. Paiue's, and Mr. Vol- 
 taire's, are from the same high origin. The absurdity of 
 Mr. Pike's mode of reasoning, in turning and twisting the 
 apostle's words to a sense never intended by him, Hor un- 
 derstood by any rational or intelligent Christian, must be 
 evident to every candid reader, while it reflects disgrace 
 upon that man, who, ignorant alike of the Word of God, 
 and of the writings of Baron Swedenborg M'hich illustrate 
 that Word, presumes to hold himself up as a master in Is- 
 rael, or as a vindicator of the Christian religioTi. 
 
 2. THE APOSTOLIC WRITINGS. 
 
 But says Mr. Pike, " One of Swedenborg's followers, 
 and if I do not much mistake Hindmarsh's Compendium, the 
 same gentleman asserts, that the Baron valued the Apostolic 
 Writings as highly as any other person ; but in this he differed 
 from others, that he valued the Word of God unspeakably 
 higher." And he goes on to declare, " that this passage 
 contains an assertion that is absolutely false : Christians value 
 the Apostolic Writings as one of the most precious parts of 
 the Word of God : with what truth then can he, who asserts 
 that they are a mere human composure, be said to value them 
 as highly as those who esteem them divine V In answer to- 
 
 this 
 
EMANUEL SWEDENBORG's WRITINGS. 71 
 
 this I would observe, tliat it is one thing; to say, that certain 
 books are divine, while their internal spirituality is expressly 
 denied ; and another thing to believe them to be such in reality, 
 by ascribing to them that which is alone constituent both of 
 their sanctity and divinity, namely, an internal sense, treat- 
 ing of heavenly and spiritual things, through the medium of 
 earthly and natural images. Now this is exactly tiie case 
 with Mr. Pike, and those whose cause he has undertaken to 
 advocate ; they profess with their lips, and say, that the 
 books of Moses, the Prophets, the Psalms, and the Gospels, 
 are divine ; but at the same time they deny, that either of 
 those books has an internal spiritual sense different from that 
 of the letter. So again they say, that the Acts and Epistles 
 of the Apostles are divine ; and yet they acknowledge they 
 have no higher, more interior, or other sense, than that which 
 appears on the face of them. Thus they place all the books, 
 which usually go under the names of the Old and New Testa- 
 ments, on the same level ; and that level they comparatively 
 fix in the dust, because, by denying the spiritual sense of 
 the Word, they will not allow, that it is in heaven, as well 
 as upon earth, though the Psalmist expressly says, " For ever, 
 O Jehovah, thy Word is settled in heaven," Ps. cxix. 89. 
 Those books, which are really divine, they strip of their 
 brightest glory, their spiritual part ; and those, which are 
 merely human, they recommend with the same earnestness, 
 nay with much more zeal and industry than they do the for- 
 mer, grounding almost all their doctrines upon, writing al- 
 most all their essays from, and preaching almost all their 
 sermons according to, the maxims laid down by Paul, instead 
 of deriving them immediately from the divine sayings of his 
 Lord and Master Jesus Christ. 
 
 On the other htmd, the members of the New Church, 
 being in all cases desirous of " rendering to Cesar the things 
 which are Cesar's, and to God the things that are God's," 
 Matt. xxii. 21, and being furnished with the most decisive 
 and satisfactory evidence of the eternal distinction between 
 those writings which constitute the Word made flesh, full of 
 
 ffrace 
 
72 A VINDICATION OF 
 
 grace and truth, and those of mere human authority, how-' 
 ever excellent in their kind, and beneficial to society, ac- 
 knowledge with their hearts, and profess with their mouths, 
 their full conviction of the superior excellence of those books, 
 which, according to the Lord's own words, in their inmost 
 sense treat of him alone, and in their internal sense of the 
 things appertaining to his kingdom both in heaven and on 
 earth. Other books, such as the Apostolic Acts and Epistles, 
 cxre not rejected, but highly esteemsd by the New Church, 
 their authority being frequently quoted in confirmation of the 
 truth of the Divine Records. They are not indeed consider- 
 ed as books of the Word, because they are not written by 
 correspondences, or according to the rales of that science, 
 which teaches tlie strict analogy subsisting between spiritual 
 and natural things, and consequently have not the genuine 
 internal sense, as every book written by divine inspiration 
 must have. But when we say this of the Acts, Epistles, 
 and various other v/ritings, do we assert any thing more, 
 than what is expressly declared by the members of the Old 
 Church, concerning crery hook of the Word? They deny, 
 that the W ord possesses any internal or spiritual sense dif- 
 ferent from that of the letter ; while we on the other hand 
 maintain, that it has three senses, absolutely distinct from 
 each other, though conjoined by correspondences ; and that 
 it ought by no means to be confounded, or placed on a level, 
 with any human productions whatever, merely because they 
 happen to be bound up with it in the same volume. If our 
 denial of a spiritual sense in the books above named be called 
 a rejection of them, we can with equal propriety retort the 
 argument, and say, that the Old Church rejects the Word 
 altogether ; for it denies, that any such spiritual sense as that 
 ahready described exists at all. Until therefore the opposers 
 of the New Jerusalem acknowledge an internal sense, at 
 least in sonie of the books of the Word, it must be with a 
 very ill grace that they bring against us the charge of reject- 
 Iftff the Acts, Epistles, and other writings ; since the New 
 Church allows the same authority and weight to those books, 
 
 ■which 
 
EMANUEL SWEDENBORG S WRITINGS. 73 
 
 which have no internal sense, as the Old Church does to 
 the whole Word. (*) 
 
 It is however worthy af remark, that the civil insti- 
 tutions of this country recognize the superior sanctity and 
 divinity of the four Gospels ; it being usual in cojirts of 
 justice, and with officers authorized by law, to administer 
 an oath upon tJiem, in preference to either the Acts or 
 the Epistles of the Apostles. This practice evidently im- 
 plies an acknowledgment on the part of judges, magistrates, 
 and others, that they regard the four Gospels with more 
 veneration than the other books of the New Testament; 
 that they consider them as more binding on the conscience, 
 and as affording a more sure and satisfactory test of the sin- 
 cerity of witnesses, than any appeal which might be made to 
 other writings. It is further observable, that the Rubric of 
 the Church of England directs the congregation to stand up, 
 while the lessons from the Gospels are reading-, during the 
 €ommunion-service ; which is not the case when the lessons 
 are taken from other books. There can be no doubt but such 
 order and custom have arisen in consequence of something 
 like an internal dictate from heaven, tacitly leading the mind 
 of a sincere worshipper, when free from the influence of er- 
 roneous doctrines, to esteem the words of the Evangelists as 
 more immediately written by divine inspiration, and conse- 
 quently as more holy, than the Acts or Apostohc Epistles. 
 
 As to the comparison, which Mr. Pike makes between 
 Swedenborg and infidels, it is in itself so absurd and ridicu- 
 lous, that it cannot claim the smallest attention ; every page 
 of tliat author's writings furnishing the most decisive proof 
 of his high veneration for the Word of God, and his most 
 earnest endeavours to wipe away that stigma and reproach, 
 which has been so unjustly and so treacherously brought upon 
 it, in the eyes of Deists, and all thinking men, by such com- 
 mentators, interpreters, and Christian divines (so called), as 
 
 Rome 
 
 (*) See Magazine of Knowledge, &c. vol. 1, p. 255. 
 R 
 
74 A VINDICATION OF 
 
 Rome and Geneva have produced. It is well known, that 
 the Old Testament is but little regarded either by the Romish 
 or the Reformed Churches, the law being supposed to be 
 superseded by the introduction of the gospel : and as to the 
 New Testament, so far from founding their creeds and doc- 
 trines upon the words of their Divine Saviour, that is, upon 
 the four Gospels, they are almost continually (as before ob- 
 served) harping upon the Epistles of Paul, drawing the 
 greatest part of their discourses from him, and thus paying 
 their court to the mere servant, who stands at the door of his 
 Master, instead of having the courage and the confidence to 
 enter into the house, and like humble disciples, elevated by 
 their Lord to the rank of sons, freemen, and friends, to ap- 
 proach him alone, who in his divine love hath said, " Come 
 unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy-laden, and / will 
 give you rest,' Matt. xi. 28. " Every man that hath heard, 
 and hath learned of the Father, cometh unto 7ne" John vi. 
 45. " The servant abideth not in the house for ever : but the 
 son abideth ever. If the Son therefore shall make you free, 
 ye shall be free indeed," John viii. 35, 36. And again, 
 •' Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth 
 not what his lord doth: but I have called you friends ; for 
 all things that I have heard of my Father, I have made known 
 unto you," John xv. 15. 
 
 SECTION 
 
EMANUEL SWEDENBORGS WRITINGS. 75 
 
 SECTION VI. 
 
 The spiritual Signification of certain Expressions 
 i?i the Sacred ScripiureSy suc/i as, 1. The Tree of 
 Life.— 2. The Tree of the Knowledge of Good 
 and Evil. — 3. The Number Ten. — 4. The Num- 
 ber Twelve.— b. Noah's Ark. — 6. The Flood. — 
 7. Husband and Wife. — 8. Foivls and Birds. — 9. 
 The Terms Jehovah and God. — 10. Money. — 11. 
 Virgins and Wom,en. — 12. The Lord's Coming in 
 the Clouds of Heaven with Power and Glory. — 
 
 13. The Lord in Man, and Man in the Lord. — ■ 
 
 14. Cain and Abel. — 15. The Destruction of the 
 wicked by Jehovah. 
 
 iyXR. Pike's next objection, p. 7, is levelled against 
 Baron Swedenborg's interpretation of certain phrases and 
 expressions used in the Sacred Scriptures, which, as he can- 
 not comprehend them himself, he imagines that no one else 
 can ; thus setting up his own measure of spiritual kno wledge 
 as the standard, by which others are to be guided; and 
 holding up to the admiration of scoffers the ignorance and 
 infidelity of the same anonymous writer, from whom he before 
 quoted, and to whom he again appeals, instead of referring 
 directly to the places where the terms objected to occur. 
 Among the different interpretations, which he gives from the 
 Baron, though in so mutilated and abrupt a form, that a 
 stranger to his writings can scarcely perceive their propriety, 
 in consequence of their being detached from the context, are 
 the following, corrected and stated so as to accord with the 
 true sense of the author. 
 
 K 2 1. THE 
 
76 A VINDICATION OF 
 
 1. THE TREE OF LIFE. 
 
 " The tree of life," or more properly, as iu the original, 
 " the tree of lives, signifies love and faith thence derived." 
 Will Mr. Pike himself pretend to say, that the two-fold life 
 here spoken of is or can be any thing else than love and faith 
 derived from the Lord? Besides these, and the blessings 
 accompanying them, what can man possibly be the subject 
 of, in order to be truly happy for ever? 
 
 2. THE TREE OF THE liNOWLEDGE OF GOOD AND EVIL. 
 
 " The tree of the knowledge of good and evil signifies 
 faith derived from mere science, or from the sensual things 
 of the natural man ;" iu other words, faith separate from the 
 life of charity. The knowledge of good and evil is called a 
 tree, the eating of which brought death and misery into the 
 world. But surely such effects as these could only have been 
 produced by a life of disobedience to the divine law, or by 
 the perversion and abuse of those faculties, which were ori- 
 ginally given to man by his Creator. And hence it may 
 plainly appear, that eating of the tree of knowledge must 
 imply the acquisition of something intellectual in a way con- 
 trary to right order, by depending more on external science 
 and sensual observation, than on the internal things of reve- 
 lation ; consequently that it must denote a spurious faith, a 
 self-formed faith, and not a true spiritual faith derived from 
 the Lord, and from heaven. 
 
 3. THE NUMBER TEN. ' 
 
 "The number ten signifies remains," or all those states of 
 the affection of good and truth, with which man is gifted by 
 the Lord, from the first stage of infancy to the end of life, 
 these being treasured up from time to time in his interiors for 
 future use : on which account tithes were instituted in the 
 
 Jewi^ 
 
EMANUEL SWEDENBORGS WRITINGS. 77 
 
 Jewish or Israelitish Church, and offered to the priest, as an 
 acknowledgment that every blessing, spiritual and natural, is 
 derived from the Lord alone. Can any thing be more con- 
 sistent with the general tenour of the Sacred Scriptures, than 
 this spiritual interpretation ? 
 
 4. THE NUMBER TWELVE. 
 
 " The number twelve denotes the holy things of faith," 
 comprehending all states of truth and good in the church, 
 and in the kingdom of the Lord : in reference to which signi- 
 fication we read, that the precious stortes on Aaron's breast- 
 plate were twelve ; that the cakes of shew-bread upon the 
 table before the Lord were twelve; that the number of men 
 sent out to search tlie land of Canaan was twelve ; that the 
 tribes of Israel were twelve; the apostles of the Lord twelve; 
 the gates of the New Jerusalem twelve, being twelve pearls; 
 the angels at the gates twelve, the gates themselves being 
 garnished with twelve precious stones ; the length, breadth, 
 and height of the city, twelve thousand furlongs each way ; 
 it's wall twelve times twelve, or an hundred forty and four 
 thousand cubits ; also that the tree of life in the midst of the 
 street of the city bare twelve kinds of fruit, which it yielded 
 every month. {*) 
 
 5. noah's ark. 
 
 " The ark of Noah represented the church in the midst 
 of it's spiritual dangers ; and it's various dimensions in length, 
 breadth, and height, denoted states of sanctity, truth, and 
 good, each derived froni the Lord." Similar in signification 
 
 were 
 
 (*) If the re«der be desirous of more full information on the subject of 
 .Numbers^ and their application to states of the church, he is referred to a small 
 work, entitled, " A Key to the Spiritiuxl Signtfieaiion of N*mbers, Weights, «nd 
 Mtusures," lately published by the author. 
 
78 A VINDICATION OF 
 
 were the dimensions of the ark, which the people of Israel 
 carried with them in the wilderness ; also the dimensions of 
 the mercy-seat, the golden table, the tabernacle or habitation, 
 the altar of burnt-offering, the altar of incense, the court, 
 the spiritual temple in Ezekiel, and the New Jerusalem in 
 the Apocalypse. Without a spiritual signification in each 
 of these cases, to what purpose would it be to define so ac- 
 curately, as the Scriptures have done, the various measures 
 of the temple, the tabernacle, and the diflferent things belong- 
 ing to them ? And is that man to be held up to ridicule and 
 contempt, who has given more satisfactory information on 
 all these points, than any iormer writer or commentator ever 
 pretended to possess I Yet Mr. Pike has done this violence 
 to the wishes and desires of the best members of the Christian 
 Church, who have long been waiting for and expecting a 
 just, rational, and scriptural interpretation of the many 
 mysteries concealed in the Holy Word. He has, by his 
 sneers and unsanctified cavils, exerted himself to the utmost 
 in confirming the imaginary triumphs of Deists, in disap- 
 pointing the hopes of the pious, and in closing the door of 
 spiritual knowledge against those who might be disposed to 
 enter into the holy of holies. 
 
 6. THE FLOOD. 
 
 " The flood signifies temptations, and also desolations 
 of the church." This interpretation is clearly authorized by 
 the use of the term in numerous parts of the Sacred Scrip- 
 tures, particularly in the following. Jehovah says by the 
 prophet, " This is as the waters of Noah unto me ; O 
 thou afflicted, tossed with tempest, and not comforted," Isa. 
 liv. 9, 11. And the Psalmist complains, " The sorrows of 
 death compassed me, and the floods of ungodly men made 
 me afraid," Ps. xviii. 4. " Save me, O God, for the waters 
 are come in unto my soul; I am come into deep waters, 
 where the floods overflow me," Ps. Ixix. 1, 2. The serpent 
 also, or the dragon, is said " to cast out of his mouth rvater 
 
 as 
 
EMANUEL SVVEDENBORGS WRITINGS. 79 
 
 as a flood, after the woman, that he might cause her to 
 be carried away of the flood" Apoc. xii. 15. Now these 
 and similar passages are to be understood either literally or 
 spiritually : if taken in their literal sense, then llie floods 
 which alarmed David, and the waters which came in unto 
 his soul, must be supposed to have been natural floods or 
 torrents of liquid matter inundating an immaterial spirit ; 
 and the waters, which the dragon cast out of his mouth 
 as a flood after the woman, must also have been of the 
 same description. But who, except Mr. Pike, can thus 
 interpret the Sacred Scriptures I Who, besides him, ever 
 imagined, that ungodly men have floods of natural water 
 at their command, to spout with violence against the righte- 
 ous, that they may be overwhelmed and literally drowned ? 
 Common understanding suggests a very difl'erent construc- 
 tion, and at once perceives, that the passages above quoted 
 are entitled to a superior, to a spiritual interpretation. And 
 as the troubles of the church are declared by the Lord him- 
 self to be as the waters of Noah, it is just and reasonable, 
 from such high authority, to conclude, in the words of Baron 
 Swedenborg, that " the flood signifies temptations, and also 
 desolations of the church." 
 
 7. HUSBAND AND WIFE. 
 
 " In the Word frequent mention is made of man and 
 wife, and also of husband and wife : when mention is made 
 of man and wife, by man is signified truth, and by wife 
 good ; and in the opposite sense by man the false, and by 
 wife evil. But when mention is made of husband and wife, 
 by husband is signified good, and by wife truth ; and in the 
 opposite sense by husband evil, and by wife the false. The 
 ground of this arcanum is this ; in the celestial church the 
 husband was in good, and the wife in the truth of that good ; 
 but in the spiritual church the man is in truth, and the wife 
 in the good of that truth ; and also they actually are 
 and were so, for the interiors with man underwent this 
 
 change. 
 
80 A VINDICATION OF 
 
 change. Hence it is, that wheresoever celestial good and 
 consequent celestial truth are treated of in the Word, there 
 mention is made of husband and wife; but where spiritual 
 good and consequent spiritual truth are treated of, there 
 mention is made of man and wife, or rather of man and 
 woman." Arc. Ccel. 4823. 
 
 A further reason why in the inmost sense of the Word 
 " husband represents good, and wife truth, is, because the 
 church is compared to a marriage, and actually is a mar- 
 riage of good and truth. Good, as being in the first place, 
 is represented by the husband ; and truth, as being in the 
 second place, is represented by the wife : hence the Lord 
 in the Word is called Bridegroom, Man, Husband ; and 
 the church is called Bride, Woman, Wife." Arc. Coel 3236. 
 
 8. FOWLS AND BIRDS. 
 
 The next explanation is, that " by fowl after it's kind 
 is signified all spiritual truth, and by bird natural truth." 
 Arc. Ccel. 776. But the ground of this interpretation, toge- 
 ther with the numerous passages of Scripture by which it 
 is justified and confirmed, are altogether with-held by Mr. 
 Pike. Let the reader therefore judge for himself. " The 
 most ancient people (says the Baron) likened the thoughts 
 of man to fowls, because the things of the understanding, 
 in respect to things of the will, are as birds in respect to 
 beasts. Inasmuch as mention is here made (Gen. vii. 14.) 
 of fowl and bird, and winged thing, and these succeed each 
 other as things intellectual, rational, and sensual in man, to 
 remove all doubt of their having such a signification, it may 
 be expedient to adduce some passages from the Word in 
 proof thereof. To begin then with David ; " Thou madest 
 him to have dominion over the works of thy hands, thou 
 hast put all things under his feet, flocks and all herds, and 
 the beasts of the field, the fowl of the heavens, and the fish 
 of the sea," Ps. viii. 6 to 8 ; speaking of the Lord, whose 
 iiominion over man, and over the things which are of man, 
 
EMANUEL SWEDENBORG's WRITINGS. 81 
 
 is thus described. According to any other sense, what 
 could dominion mean over beasts and birds ? So again, 
 " Trees of fruit, and all cedars, beasts and all cattle, creep- 
 ing things, and bird of wing, shall praise the name of 
 Jehovah,'" Ps. cxlviii. 9, 10, 13. Tree of fruit is the celes- 
 tial man ; cedar is the spiritual man ; beast and cattle and 
 creeping thing are the goods thereof; birds of wing are 
 the truths thereof: by these the name of Jehovah may be 
 glorified, but not by beasts, cattle, creeping things, and 
 birds. In profane writers such things may be said hyper- 
 bolically ; but in the Word of the Lord they are not said 
 hyperbolically, but significatively and representatively. So 
 in Ezekiel, " The fishes of the sea, and the foivls of the 
 heavens, and the beasts of the field, and every creeping 
 thing that creepeth on the ground, and every man that is 
 on the face of the ground, shall tremble before me," xxxviii. 
 20. That beasts and fowls in this passage have a spiritual 
 signification, is very evident ; for what glory would it be 
 to Jehovah, that fishes, fowls, and beasts, should tremble ? 
 or can any one suppose, that such expressions would be 
 holy, unless they implied and involved holy things I So in 
 Jeremiah, " I beheld, and lo, no man, and all the birds 
 of the heavens were fled," iv. 25 ; denoting the extinction 
 of all good and truth. Again, " All the fowls of heaven 
 made their nests in Lis branches, and under his branches 
 did all the beasts of the field bring forth their young, and 
 in his shade dwelt all great nations," Ezek. xxxi. 6 ; speak- 
 ing of Ashur, which is the spiritual churcli, and is called 
 a cedar ; the fowls of heaven signify it's truths, the beasts 
 of the field signify it's goods. In like manner the Lord 
 saith, " The kingdom of heaven is like unto a grain of 
 mustard-seed, which a man took and cast into his garden, 
 and it grew and waxed a great tree, so that the fowls of 
 heaven lodged in the branches of it," Luke xiii. 19. Matt, 
 xiii. 31, 32. Mark iv. 30 to 32. 
 
 9. THE 
 
82 A VINDICATION OF 
 
 9. THE TERMS JEHOVAH AND GOD. 
 
 *' The term Jehovah, as one of the names of the Su- 
 preme Being, is ejcpressive of his divine love, or divine 
 good ; while the term God is expressive of his divine wis- 
 dom, or divine truth." In like manner it might have been 
 added, from other parts of the Baron's vrritings, that the 
 terms Jesiis and Christ, in the New Testament, have a simi- 
 lar signification. 
 
 10. MONEV. 
 
 *' Money, or natural wealth, is applied in the Sacred 
 Scriptures to denote the knowledges of truth and good, which 
 constitute spiritual riches." This is evident from the parable 
 of the rich man in the Gospel, who represented the Jewish 
 nation, as being rich in the knowledge of those things which 
 are revealed in the Word, and of whom it is therefore said, 
 that "he was clothed iw purple andj^ne linen, ^indi fared sump- 
 tuously every day ;" while of Lazarus the poor beggar, who 
 represented the Gentiles, destitute of such heavenly know- 
 ledge, yet anxious to obtain it, we read, that " he was de- 
 sirous of being fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich 
 man's table,'' Luke xvi. 19, 20. It appears also from the 
 description given of the prince of Tyrus : " Behold, thou 
 art wiser than Daniel ; there is no secret that they can hide 
 from thee : with thy wisdotn and with thine understanding 
 thou hast gotten thee riches, and hast gotten gold and silver 
 into thy treasures : by thy great wisdom and by thy tTaffick 
 hast thou increased thy riches, and thy heart is lifted up 
 because of thy riches. Thou sealest up the sum full of 
 wisdom, and perfect in beauty. Thou hast been in Eden the 
 garden of God; evenj precious stone tvas thy covering," 
 Ezek. xxviii. 3 to 5, 12, 13. 
 
 11. VIRGINS 
 
EMANUEL SWEDENBORGSj WRITINGS. 83 
 
 11. VIRGINS AND WOMEN. 
 
 ** Virgins signify the affections of truth and good, or 
 -what is the same thing, the church as to such affections." 
 Women in general have a similar signification. By holdino- 
 up this sentiment to the ridicule and contempt of his readers, 
 it is plain that Mr. Pike denies it's truth ; and yet he cannot 
 otherwise account for the scriptural application of those terms 
 to Israel, Judah, Zion, Jerusalem, &c. How often do we 
 read of the virgin of Israel, as in Jer. xviii. 13. Chap. xxi. 
 4, 21. Amos V. 2. Joel i. 8 ; of the virgin-daughter of 
 Judah, as in Lam. i. 15 ; of the virgin-daughter of 
 Zion, as in 2 Kings xix. 21. Isa. xxxvii. 22. Lam. i. 4. 
 Chap. ii. 10, 13; of the virgins of Jerusalem, and the daugh- 
 ter of Jerusalem, Lam. ii. 10, 13; and of the virgin-daughter 
 of my people, as in Jer. xiv. 17. Is not the kingdom of 
 heaven also likened unto ten virgins, going forth to meet the 
 Bridegroom? Matt. xxv. 1, 2. And are not the hundred 
 and forty and four thousand, who were redeemed from the 
 ^rth, though consisting both of males and females, expressly 
 called virgins, who had not defiled themselves with tuomen.' 
 Apoc. xiv. 3, 4. Why then should Mr. Pike, in so indis- 
 creet and wanton a manner, falsify, reprobate, and blaspheme 
 the true spiritual sense of the Sacred Writings, calling it 
 *' a mass of absurdity," as he has done in his rash, if not 
 malicious animadversions on Baron Swedenborg's interpreta- 
 tion of a Scripture term, which even his own friends, in com- 
 mon with every reasonable mind, must allow to refer to the 
 church, and to the things constituent of the church in man, 
 jiamely, his affection or love of what is true and good ? 
 
 12. THE lord's coming IN THE CLOUDS OF HEAVEN. 
 
 ** By the clouds of heaven, in which the Lord is to 
 come a second time, is meant the Word in it's literal sense ; 
 and by the power and glory, which will accompany him, it's 
 
 L 2 spiritual 
 
84 A VINDICATION OF 
 
 Spiritual sense." Mr. Pike, like many otliers, who coniine 
 their views of the great events predicted in the Word to 
 the literal expressions made use of, without the least idea of 
 any higher or more interior sense belonging- to them, seems 
 to entertain an opinion, that at the time of the last judg- 
 mient the Lord will personally appear in the clouds of the 
 atmosphere with extraordinary pomp and splendour, accom- 
 panied by an innumerable host of angels ; that he will then 
 raise out of their graves all, who had ever lived since tlie 
 creation of the world ; that he will again clothe their souls 
 with their former bodies ; and, when collected together to 
 one place, that he will pass judgment upon them, sentencing 
 the good to eternal life or heaven, and the wicked to eternal 
 death or hell. He also appears to believe, that the visible 
 heavens and the habitable earth, though so well adapted to 
 answer all the ends of creation in perpetuity, will at the 
 same time be destroyed, and that a new heaven and a new 
 earth will be created in their stead. Such are the gross 
 and childish notions, which have arisen iu the church, and 
 are still cherished even by it's professed ministers, from a 
 total misapprehension of the literal sense of the Word, and 
 from an entire ignorance of the existence of a spiritual sense, 
 now at length happily revealed for the use and benefit of the 
 New Jerusalem. By this sense we are distinctly taught, 
 that the coming of the Lord in the clouds of heaven denotes, 
 not his personal appearance in the air, but his appearance 
 in the Word, which is one with himself: for as natural 
 clouds obscure the direct light of the sun, so the literal 
 sense of the Word in a great degree obscures it's spiritual 
 sense, which latter constitutes the power and glory of divine 
 truth. The coming of the Lord, therefore, is not to destroy 
 the visible things of creation, but to build up and to esta- 
 blish a new spiritual church, in the room of that which is 
 fallen ; thus to open his Word to the understanding of man- 
 kind, to make manifest it's interior treasures of wisdom, 
 and to demonstrate it's astonishing perfection in the sanc- 
 tity and divinity of it's contents. 
 
 That 
 
EMANUEL SWEDENBORGS WRITINGS. 85 
 
 That the clouds spoken of in the Sucred Scriptures are 
 to be referred to the ohscurity of divine truth, as it appears 
 in many parts of the letter, rather than to any natural exha- 
 lations or vapours arising from the earth, and that the term 
 glory, brightness, or splendour, is predicated of the spiri- 
 tual sense, requires no further confirmation, than an atten- 
 tive consideration of the following- passages. " Jehovah will 
 create upon every dwelling-place of mount Zion, and upon 
 her assemblies, a cloud, and smoke by day, and the shining 
 of a flaming Jire by night : for upon all the glory shall be a 
 defence (or covering)," Isa. iv. 5. " Behold, Jehovah rideth 
 upon a sivift cloud," Isa. xix. 1. " He bowed the heavens, 
 and came down ; and darkness was under his feet. He 
 made darkness his secret place : his pavilion round about 
 him were dark waters, and thick clouds of the skies. At 
 the brightness that was before him, his thick clouds passed," 
 Ps. xviii. 9 to 12. " Thy mercy, O Jehovah, is in the hea- 
 vens ; and thy faithfulness reacheth unto the clouds," Ps. 
 xxxvi. 5. " Thy mercy is great unto the heavens, and thy 
 truth unto the clouds," Ps. Ivii. 10. Ps. cviii. 4. " Ascribe 
 ye strength unto God : his excellency is over Israel, and 
 his strength is in the clouds," Ps. Ixviii. 34. " Jehovah 
 covereth himself with light, as with a garment ; he maketh 
 the clouds his chariot, and walketh upon the wings of the 
 wind," Ps. civ. 2, 3. In the book of Job also it is written, 
 " He holdeth back the face of his throne, and spreadeth his 
 cloud upon it," Job xxvi. 9. 
 
 In these and many other passages clouds denote the 
 literal sense of the Word ; glory, brightness, and light, it's 
 spiritual sense ; and riding upon a cloud, instruction in 
 divine truth. The thick cloud and smoke, which appeared 
 upon mount Sinai, when Jehovah descended upon it in fire, 
 and gave the law to Moses, in like manner signified the 
 literal or external sense of that law, as the first-fruits of 
 the Word ; as did the cloud that covered the tent of the 
 congregation, when the tabernacle was completed, and the 
 glory of Jehovah filled it. From all which circumstances it 
 
 is 
 
86 A VINDICATION OF 
 
 is evident, that the Lord's second coming in the clouds of 
 heaven with power and great glory, can have no other mean- 
 ing, than his more immediate presence in the literal sense 
 of his Word, in consequence of the revelation of it's spiri- 
 tual sense. 
 
 13. THE LORD IN MAN, AND MAN IN THE LORD. 
 
 The next quotation, in the form which Mr. Pike gives 
 it, I have not been able to discover in the writings of Swe- 
 denborg, though great pains have been taken, in searching 
 for it. He represents the Baron as saying, " The Lord is 
 man : man is the Lord ;" intendirig it, no doubt, to be under- 
 stood, that the Baron confounds the Creator and the crea- 
 ture as one and the same. But this insidious attempt cannot 
 succeed in the estimation of any truly candid mind. Speak- 
 ing of the reciprocal conjunction of the Lord with man, and 
 of man with the Lord, he very frequently indeed says, " The 
 Lord is in man, and man is in the Lord ;" which is no more 
 than what the Lord himself declares in the Gospel, in these 
 words, "A| that day ye shall know, that I am in my Father, 
 and j/ou in me, and / in you" John xiv. 20. And again, 
 "Abide in me, and I in you: he that abideth in vie, and 
 I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit," John xv. 4, 
 5. But it is probable the quotation may have been grounded 
 upon a passage in the True Christian Religion, u. 101, &c. 
 where the author observes, and clearly proves, that in Jesus 
 Christ "God was made Man, and Man God, in one person;" 
 and that in consequence of his Humanity being Divine, in 
 him "God is Man, and Man God," n. 102. The proofs, 
 which he furnishes from the Sacred Scriptures in support of 
 this great truth, are too abundant to be repeated in this 
 place : suffice it to observe, tlrat he who was born in time, 
 and became the Saviour and Redeemer of mankind, is called 
 Immanuel, or God with us, Isa. vii. 14. Matt. i. 23 : the 
 Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, Isa. ix. 6 : Jehovah 
 our God, who was expected and waited for, Isa. xxv. 9 ; 
 
 and 
 
EMANUEL SWEDENBORG's WRITINGS. 87 
 
 and whose way was prepared by John the Baptist, Isa. xl. 3. 
 John i. 23 : the Lord Jehovih, who was to come with strong- 
 hand, and to feed his flock like a shepherd, Isa. xl. 10, 11 ; 
 the Branch, whose name is also Jehovah our Righteousness, 
 Jer. xxiii. 5, 6 : the Word Incarnate, which in the beffin- 
 ning was with God, and was God, and by whom all thing's 
 were made, John i. 1, 3, 14 ; the very Father, whom Philip 
 was so desirous of seeing-, not knowing- that he then stood 
 before him, clothed with Humanity, John xiv. 8, 9 : " the 
 Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the Ending, the First 
 and the Last, who Is, who Was, and who Is To Come, the 
 Almighty," Apoc. i. 8, 11, 17. 
 
 If now Jesus Christ be really and truly that very Jehovah, 
 whom the Scriptures of the Old Testament so uniformly des- 
 cribe as the only Saviour, and the only Redeemer, Isa. xliii. 
 11. Chap. xlix. 2G. Jer. 1. 34. Hos. xiii. 4. Ps. xix. 14; 
 then it follows, in the words of an apostle, that he alone is 
 " the true God, and eternal life," 1 John v. 20 ; that " in him 
 dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily,'^ Coloss. ii. 9; 
 and consequently that in him " God is Man, and Man is God." 
 
 14. CAIN AND ABEL. 
 
 Among a variety of passages quoted from the Arcana 
 Ccslestia, in explanation of the gradual declension of the 
 first or Most Ancient Church, Mr. Pike selects the following 
 for animadversion. On Gen. iv. 8, the Baron says, " By 
 Cain is signified faith separate from love; by Abel is signified 
 charity, which is the brother of faith. Cain's rising up against 
 Abel his brother, and slaying him, signifies that faith, in it's 
 separate state, extinguishes charity." Arc. Ccel. 366. And 
 on Gen. iv. 18, he further says, " All these names (viz. Enoch, 
 Irad, Mahujael, Methusael, and Lamech,) signify heresies 
 derived from the first, which was called Cain." Arc. Ccel. 
 404. Immediately after this explanation, Mr. Pike, fansy- 
 ing he has detected the author in a manifest error, with an 
 air of triumph makes this remark, "A little before he said, 
 
 that 
 
88 A VINDICATION OF 
 
 that Cain meant /aiVA ,• here Cain means the first heresy : so 
 that the first of heresies was faith ! " A more perverse and 
 false judgment was surely never witnessed. Argument it 
 cannot be called, the premises and conclusion being so plainly 
 inconsistent with each other. In his eagerness to discover 
 an error in another, like Cain of old, he makes a sacrifice of 
 charity, and commits himself as an assassin both of the lan- 
 guage and the sentiment of the man whom he opposes. He 
 first of all quotes the words of Swedenborg, when he says, 
 that " Cain signifies faith separate from love, and that his 
 rising up against Abel his brother, and slaying him, signifies 
 that faith in it's separate state extinguishes charity ;" and 
 then, because the same author further adds, that " the first 
 heresy was called Cain," unblushingly remarks, that accord- 
 ing to the Baron "the first of heresies was faith!" Thus, 
 totally regardless of the kiiid of faith signified by Cain, 
 which Swedenborg has been careful to describe, namely, that 
 which is not only separate from charity, but violently op- 
 posed to it, he endeavours to make his readers believe, that 
 the Baron has denounced a true, genuine, and living faith in 
 
 the Lord, as no better than a vile heresy. Mr. Pike, this is 
 
 neither fair, candid, nor honest, but rather betrays, what I 
 should be most unwilling to believe of you, a disposition to 
 revile a good and pious author, as well as to suppress and 
 torture the truth, which yet must and will survive all youi" 
 efforts to destroy it. 
 
 15. THE DESTRUCTION OF THE WICKED BY JEHOVAH. 
 
 Another singularly perverse criticism, on the part of 
 Mr. Pike, is occasioned by Swedenborg's explanation of 
 Gen. vi. 7, where it is written, " And Jehovah said, I will 
 destroy man, whom I have created," &c. The Baron, in 
 his spiritual illustration of this passage, as in many other 
 parts of his writings, observes, that wheresover wrath, an- 
 ger, fury, vengeance, or any other odious passion, prompt- 
 ing to the infliction of punishment, calamity, or death, is 
 
 ascribed 
 
EMANUEL SWEDENBORGS WRITINGS. 89 
 
 ascribed to Jeliovah or the Lord, it is not to be understood, 
 that the Lord himself actually punishes or destroys, but only 
 that he permits the evil spoken of to take place, and that in 
 reality man by his own acts of wickedness brings punish- 
 ment, destruction, and every other calamity upon himself, 
 agreeably to these Avords of the prophet, " O Israel, thou 
 hast destroyed thyself,'* Hos. xiii. 9. He therefore inter- 
 prets the passage in Genesis, which in the literal sense im- 
 putes the destruction of man to Jehovah, by shewing it's 
 spiritual and genuine sense, that being the only way in which 
 it can be done consistently with other parts of the Word, 
 and at the same time with the divine attributes and perfec- 
 tions of the Lord. Thus he observes, that " by Jehovah's 
 saying, I will destroy man, is signified that man would 
 extinguish himself." On which Mr. Pike remarks, p. 8, 
 *• This is much such an interpretation as would be given, if 
 it were affirmed, that when it is said the Jews crucified 
 Christ, the meaning is, that he crucifed himself!*' 
 
 Now if Mr. Pike is serious in making this comment, 
 and wishes it to be understood by his readers, that he con- 
 siders the two cases as parallel, the former being no more 
 a matter of fact than the latter, it will then follow, that as 
 Christ did not crucify himself, so man by his acts of wicked- 
 ness and moral depravity did not and does not bring destruc- 
 tion upon himself; but on the contrary, as it is literally true, 
 that the Jews crucified our Lord, so it is equally true that 
 Jehovah brings upon man all the miseries, calamities, and 
 evils, which he suffers. This conclusion is the necessary 
 consequence of that ignorance of the true nature of Scrip- 
 ture language, which takes it for granted, that every ex- 
 pression of the letter must be understood in it's obvious and 
 customary sense, even though it should directly militate 
 against other parts of the same letter, and against the whole 
 tenour of the spiritual or genuine sense of divine revelation. 
 
 It is frequently repeated in Exodus, that " Jehovah 
 hardened the heart of Pharaoh," as in Chap. vii. 3, 13. Chap. 
 ix. 12. Chap. x. 1, 20, 27. Chap. xi. 10 : and it is also Be- 
 
 M clared, 
 
90 A VINDICATION OF 
 
 clared, tliat " Pharaob hardened his own heart," as ia Chap, 
 viii. 15, 32. Chap. ix. 34. Both of these assertions cannot 
 be confirmed as genuine truths, one being opposed to the 
 other. There must tlierefore be some way of harmonizing- 
 them, because both are dictated by divine wisdom, which 
 can neither err, nor be inconsistent with itself: and that 
 way is to consider one of the propositions as an apparent 
 truth, and the other as o. (/enuine truth; jast as we do, when 
 we speak of the rising and setting of the sun, and also of 
 his being stationary in a certain part of the heavens. But 
 which of tlie above mentioned propositions will a reasonable 
 and pious man be disposed to confirm as a genuine truth, 
 and which as an apparent one i Will he insist, that the 
 obstinate wickedness of Pharaoh ought in truth and reality 
 to be attributed to Jehovah, and not to Pharaoh himself? 
 Will he thus endeavour to screen the man, and defame his 
 God? Or vvill he not rather, if free from the influence of a 
 false and dangerous creed, at once see and acknowledge, 
 that when evil is ascribed to Jehovah or the Lord, as it is 
 in numerous parts of the Word, it can only be in conse- 
 quence of it's so appearing to man, and not because it is in 
 reality from him ? Tliis is the very doctrine, v/hicli Swe- 
 denborg uniformly inculcates throughout his writings ; and 
 hence it is, that in explaining the particular passage alluded 
 to by Mr. Pike, he shews, that " by Jehovah's saying, I will 
 destroy man, is signified that man would extinguish or de- 
 stroy himself." 
 
 A further elucidation of this subject, in the words of 
 the author of ^rca>ia Ccelestia, cannot fail to he acceptable 
 to the candid and unprejudiced reader, who will thereby be 
 enabled to judge for himself how far the calumnies, which 
 have been heaped upon the name of Swedenborg, are me- 
 rited by him, or how far they fall back upon the heads of 
 those, who invent and propagate them. After explaining 
 what is really meant by the anger of Jehovah, which in 
 Exod. iv. 14, is said to have been kindled against Moses, 
 he proceeds to observe as follows. " The reason why anger 
 
 in 
 
EMANUEL SWEDENRORG's WRITINGS. 91 
 
 in the Word is attributed to Jehovah or the Lord is, be- 
 cause it is a most general truth, that all things come from 
 God, thus both evils and goods ; but this most general truth, 
 which it is expedient should be admitted l>y infants, by young 
 people, and the simple, ought afterwards to be illustrated, 
 viz. by teaching that evils are from man, but that they ap- 
 pear as from God, and that it is so said to the intent they 
 may learn to fear God, lest they should perish by the evils 
 which themselves do, and afterwards may love him ; for fear 
 must precede love, that in love there may be holy fear ; for 
 when fear is insinuated into love, it becomes holy from the 
 holy principle of love, and in this case it is not fear lest 
 the Lord should be angry and punish, but lest they should 
 act against good itself, because this will torment the con- 
 science. Moreover the Israelites and Jews were driven to 
 observe the statutes and precepts in the external form by 
 punishments, and hence they believed that Jehovah was an- 
 gry and punished, when yet it was themselves who by idola- 
 tries brought such things upon themselves, and separated 
 themselves from heaven, whence came punishments, as is 
 also said in Isaiah, " Your iniquiiies have separated between 
 you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from 
 you" Chap. lix. 2 ; and whereas the Israelites and Jews 
 were only in externals without an internal principle, there- 
 fore they were held in the opinion that Jehovah was angry 
 and punished ; for they, who are in externals without an 
 internal principle, do all things from fear, and nothing from 
 love. From these considerations it may now be manifest 
 what is meant in the Word by the anger and wrath of 
 Jehovah, viz. that punishments are meant." Arc. Coel. 6997. 
 
 Again, in explanation of what is meant by Jehovah's 
 hardening the heart of Pharaoh and of his servants, he says, 
 " When it is said that Jehovah hardened the heart of Pharaoh, 
 &c. in the internal sense it signifies that they themselves, and 
 not Jehovah, hardened their own heart, that is, made them- 
 selves obstinate ; for it is the evil attendant on man, which 
 hardens him, or makes him obstinate against divine things, 
 
 M 2 and 
 
92 A VINDICATION OF 
 
 and evil comes from man, and flows-in from hell, but not 
 from heaven ; nothing but good flows-in through heaven from 
 the Lord ; evil cannot come forth from good, still less from 
 the most essential good ; evil comes forth from it's own origins, 
 viz. from the contraries of love to God and love to the neigh- 
 bour ; such origins are given with man, and in no wise with 
 God, Hence it is evident, that when it is said in the Word, 
 that God induces evils, it is said according to the appear- 
 ance." Arc. Ccel 7533. 
 
 In another place, on the same subject, he writes : " In 
 ancient times, on account of the simple, all evil was attri- 
 buted to Jehovah ; and this by reason that the simple were 
 not able to know, and the generality not to comprehend, how 
 the things which came to pass could come from any other 
 source than from Jehovah ; also how it is to be understood, 
 that Jehovah permits the diabolical crew to induce evil, and 
 does not hinder them, when yet he hath all power. Inas- 
 much as the simple could not conceive those things, and 
 scarcely the intelligent also, therefore it was said, in agree- 
 ment with the general belief, that even evil existed from 
 Jehovah. This is common in the Word, the literal sense 
 whereof is according to the faith of the simple. Tlie evil, 
 however, which in the Word is attributed to Jehovah, is from 
 man." Arc. Cozl 7632. 
 
 Notwithstanding this clear and satisfactory account of 
 the true reasons why evil, punishment, wrath, and anger, 
 are in the literal sense of the Word ascribed to the Lord, 
 when yet nothing but what partakes of the nature of mercy, 
 clemency, and love, can possibly proceed from him, how 
 passing strange must it be to hear one, who calls himself a 
 minister of that Lord, with a shameless front assert, p. 9, 
 that " such interpretations of Scripture are not more absurd 
 than irreverent to it's great Author!" What! is it absurd 
 and irreverent to impute nothing but good to him, who is the 
 fountain of good? Is it irrational, is it unscriptural, to teach 
 that man is the author of his own miseries I Or does it shew 
 any want of respect for the character of the Supreme Being 
 
 to 
 
EMANUEL SWEDENBORGS WRITINGS. 93 
 
 to endeavour to remove from the minds of men improper, 
 unworthy ideas, hastily taken up, of his divine attributes and 
 perfections? On the contrary, is it not a proof of the highest 
 veneration for the Author of all that is sacred and good, to 
 represent him in the most amiable light, as a God of infinite 
 mercy and compassion towards his degenerate offspring, and 
 not as a cruel tyrant, first hardening the hearts of his creatures, 
 and then inflicting the punishment of death and destruction 
 for the very crime, of which he was himself the instigator 
 and the cause ? 
 
 Emanuel Swedenborg is perhaps tlie only writer, who in 
 all his interpretations of Scripture, uniformly and consistently 
 gives honour to his Divine Master, by shewing how those 
 passages, which apparently impute evil to him, still harmonize 
 with the many others which ascribe to him nothing but good. 
 And yet he is to be selected for calumny, reproach, and 
 abuse, by such men as Mr. Pike and his partisans, who in 
 the same breath blow hot and blow cold, asserting, that God 
 in his own nature is merciful, and at the same time full of 
 fury and indignation ; that his loving-kindness to some, and 
 his anger against others, are alike burning within him at the 
 same moment ; in short, as the rebellious house of Israel said 
 of old, that " the way of Jehovah is not equals Ezek. xviii. 
 25, 29,^ These are the teachers, the upholders, the cham- 
 pions of modern Christianity, who, pretending to serve and 
 honour their God, blaspheme his name, his nature, and his 
 character, by ascribing to him, (not as children or uninstructed 
 persons might do, in simplicity and innocence, but advisedly, 
 deliberately, and argumentatively,) the most odious passions 
 and properties, such as are altogether unworthy of a Divine 
 Being, disgraceful to mankind, and congenial only with the 
 vile spirits of darkness. Because it is written, that Jehovah 
 raised up Pharaoh, and hardened his heart, for the very pur- 
 pose of shewing his power upon him and his people, by 
 plaguing and destroying them, they not only believe these 
 declarations as literally expressed, but seek out arguments to 
 confirm themselves in the idea, that such conduct is perfectly 
 
 agreeable 
 
94 A VINDICATION OF 
 
 •tigieeable to the divine nature, saying, " Hath not the potter 
 power over the clay, even to mar the vessel made of it, if he 
 please? Jer. xviii. 2 to 6. May not the householder, on 
 settling with his labourers, do what he will with his own ? 
 Matt. XX. 15. Why then may not God, of his mere will and 
 pleasure, in order to manifest his power and glory, literally 
 take vengeance not on Pharaoh only, but on whole nations, 
 sparing neither men, women, nor children?" And because 
 it is further written, " I loved Jacob, and I hated Esau," 
 Mai. i. 2, 3, it is therefore insisted upon by the same 
 ministers of the letter, that love and hatred, good and evil, 
 light and darkness, sweetness and bitterness, flow equally 
 from one and the same fountain, that fountain being no other 
 than the adorable Parent and Preserver of his people, who is 
 thus dishonoured and ti-aduced as it were in his own house, 
 and bv his own children. 
 
 SECTION VII. 
 
 The Lord as a Sun above the Anf£clic Heavens. — 
 2. A I)ivine T'rinifi/, not of Persons, but of Es- 
 scidials in One Person. — 3. The Lord became 
 the Word even in it-s Ultimates. 
 
 1. THE LORD AS A SUN ABOVE THE ANGELIC HEAVENS. 
 
 jL he first point, which Mr. Pike notices under this head, 
 p. 9, is the declaration which Swedenborg makes, in his 
 True Christian Religion, 25, and elsewhere, that " the Lord 
 appears as a sun above the angelic heavens, being manifested, 
 with respect to his wisdom, in the proceeding light thereof; 
 and, with respect to his love, in the proceeding heat. He 
 himself is not that sun; but divine love and divine wisdom, 
 
 iu 
 
EMANUEL SWEDENBORGS WRITINGS. 95 
 
 in their proximate emanation from him and round about him, 
 appear as a sun before the angels. Himself in the sun is a 
 Man, our Lord Jesus Christ, both with respect to the all- 
 begetting Divinity, and with respect to the Divine Humanity." 
 This account of the Lord as a sun is called by Mr. Pike a 
 glaring and awful contradiction of the Holy Word ; and in 
 proof of his assertion, he quotes a few passages from the 
 book of Job, one from Isaiah, and another from the Psalms, 
 which speak of the incomprehensible greatness of the Divine 
 Being, and do not at all bear upon the subject he pretends to 
 discuss. It will be sufficient, therefore, to answer this ob- 
 jection by producing the following passages, which clearly 
 authorize the description given by the Baron. 
 
 " The Lord God is a sun and shield," Ps. Ixxxiv. 11. 
 " Unto you that fear my name, shall the sun of righteousness 
 aiise with healing in his wings," Mai. iv. 2. " The light of 
 the moon shall be as the light of the sun, and the light of 
 the sun shall be sevenfold, as the light of seven days, in the 
 day that Jehovah bindeth up the breach of his people, and 
 healeth the stroke of their wound," Isa. xxx. 26. " Thy 
 sun shall no more go down, neither shall thy moon withdraw 
 itself: hnt Jehovah shall he thine everlasting light/' Isa. Ix. 
 20. " When Jesus was transfigured, his face did shine as 
 the sun, and his raiment was white as the light," Matt. xvii. 
 2. " The countenance of the Son of Man was as the sun 
 shineth in his strength," Apoc. i. 16. " I saw an angel 
 standing in the sun,'" Apoc. xix. 17. This was a view of 
 the Lord, who is frequently in the Word called an angel, 
 in the midst of the sun of heaven ; for John was then in 
 spiritual, and not in natural vision. The apostle Paul says, 
 that " the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings, 
 and Lord of lords, who only hath immortality, dwelleth in 
 the light which no man can approach unto," 1 Tim. vi. 15, 
 16. This inaccessible light, in which the Lord dwells, can 
 surely be no other than the sun of the spiritual world. Where- 
 in then consists the " daring impiety," which Mr. Pike as- 
 cribes to Swedenborg, in giving such a representation of the 
 
 Most 
 
96 A VINDICATION OF 
 
 Most High, as is warranted by the Sacred Scriptures them- 
 selves, as well as by tlie Apostolic Writings ? 
 
 2. A DIVINE TRINITY, NOT OF PERSONS, BUT OP ESSEN- 
 TIALS IN ONE PERSON. 
 
 It is next objected, p. 9, that Swedenborg denies a 
 trinity of j)<irsons in the Godhead, and instead thereof main- 
 tains a trinity of essentials in one divine person, teaching, 
 that the wJiole trinity, or as the apostle Paul expresses it, 
 all the fulness of the Godhead, is in Jesus Christ, the invisible 
 Divinity being what is called the Father, the visible Huma- 
 nity the Son, and the proceeding influence or operation the 
 Holy Spirit. This doctrine, though manifestly the true 
 doctrine of the Sacred Scriptures throughout, is violently 
 opposed by Mr. Pike, who quotes a few passages to shew, 
 that there is a distinction in the divine nature pointed out by 
 the terms Father, Son, and Holy Spirit; and then iguorantly 
 concludes, that he has proved a trinity of persons. He 
 knows there is no such expression as a trinity of persons in 
 any part of the Scriptures ; and he ought to know, that such 
 a trinity is incompatible with the divine unity : for if each 
 person, separately considered, be God and Lord, then there 
 must of necessity be three Gods and three Lords ; and it 
 avails nothing to say, that the three persons are still only one 
 God, when the whole tenour of the doctrine, as well as it's 
 plain language, labours to inculcate the idea of three Gods. If 
 the Father be not the Son, nor any part of the Son, and yet is 
 a whole and complete God in himself; and if the Son be not 
 the iPather, nor any part of the Father, and yet is a whole 
 and complete God also in himself; and if again the same may 
 be said of the Holy Spirit in respect to the other two ; then 
 Ibow, in the name of wonder and common sense, can the 
 whole three together constitute only one God ? The fact is, 
 Mr. Pike believes in three Gods ; and so does every triper- 
 sonalist, who, by false reasonings, and perverse interpreta- 
 tions of the Sacred Scriptures, confirms himself in the idea, 
 
 that 
 
EMANUEL SWEDENBORGS WRITINGS. 97 
 
 that there is one divine person or being called God the Father, 
 another called God the Son, and a third called God the Holy 
 Ghost, and who then worships them one after another, buf 
 for the most part one for the sake of another. 
 
 Well, (Mr. Pike may exclaim,) but is it not expressly 
 written, " God said. Let us make man in our image, after 
 our likeness?" Gen. i. 26. "The Lord God said, Behold, 
 the man is become (Heb. was) as one of us" Gen. iii. 22. 
 From these two passages he reasons in favour of a trinity of 
 persons, just as if the expressions us and our necessarily 
 implied three, and no more ; when yet every body knows, 
 that the terms will equally embrace three, three hundred, or 
 three thousand. This part of the argument therefore falls to 
 the ground, and is lost in the dust of a mere quibble. 
 
 What is really meant by the term us, when used by 
 the one only God, the Creator and Regenerator of man, is 
 well explained by Emanuel Swedenborg in his illustrations 
 of the first and third chapters of Genesis ; where he clearly 
 proves, that the subject treated of in the passages alluded 
 to is not the first creation or first birth of man as to his 
 natural body, but his new birth, or the regeneration of his 
 spirit, and the decline of the Most Ancient Church. With 
 this view he describes the nature of the communication, 
 which subsists between the regenerate man and the angels 
 of heaven, who in the Word are frequently called Gods. 
 On the first passage. Gen. i. 26, he observes, that the Lord 
 governs and regenerates man through the ministry of angels 
 and spirits, and for this reason it is at first said in the plural, 
 *' Let us make man in our image ;" but as it is the Lord 
 alone who actually governs and disposes according to the 
 dictates of his own divine wisdom, therefore in the following 
 verse it is said in the singular, " So God created man in 
 his own image ; in the image of God created he him ; 
 male and female created he them." The Lord also de- 
 clares in Isaiah, " / Jehovah malce all things, stretch- 
 ing forth the heavens alone, and spreading abroad the 
 eajrth hy myself" Chap. xliv. 24. Mr. Pike, however, 
 
 N insists 
 
98 A VINDICATION OF 
 
 insists, that Jehovah did not create man by his own 
 wisdom, judgment, and power, but was assisted in the 
 work by two others equal to himself, whose advice he 
 craved ; which again is a manifest avowal of the existence 
 of three Gods; a dilemma, into which he is continually fal- 
 ling, and from which he cannot possibly extricate himself, 
 while he maintains a trinity of divine beings or persons : 
 and I defy him to stir a single step in the controversy with- 
 out shewing this cloven foot. Well may the prophet ex- 
 claim, with indignation at the very thought of such impiety 
 and insanity, " Who hath directed the spirit of Jehovah, 
 OE being his counsellor taught him i With whom took lie 
 counsel, and ivho instructed him, and taught him in the 
 path of judgment, and tiiught him knowledge, and shewed 
 to him the way of understanding?" Isa. xl. 13, 14. 
 
 On the next passage. Gen. iii. 22, where Jehovah God 
 says, " Behold, the man was as one of us, in knowing good 
 and evil," it may be remarked, (still keeping in mind, as 
 before observed, that the subject treated of is the decline of 
 the Most Ancient Church,) that it does not at all allude to 
 any second or third person in the divine trinity, but to the 
 angels of heaven, who by reason of their great power, in 
 consequence of their reception of divine truths, are fre- 
 quently called Gods, as in the Psalms, " Give unto Jehovah, 
 O ye mighty, (Heb. O ye sons of the Gods,) give unto Jehovah 
 glory and strength," Ps. xxix. 1. " God standeth in the 
 congregation of God : he judgeth among the Gods," Ps. 
 Ixxxii. 1. Again, " Who in the heaven can be compared 
 unto Jehovah ? who among the sons of the Gods can be 
 likened unto Jehovah?" Ps. Ixxxix. 6. "O give thanks 
 unto the God of Gods; O give thanks unto the Lord of 
 Lords," Ps. cxxxvi. 2, 3. And in another place, " I will 
 praise thee with my whole heart, before the Gods will I sing 
 praise unto thee," Ps. cxxxviii. 1. Even men, so far as 
 they are possessed of power, are likewise called Gods, as in 
 Ps. Ixxxii. 6. John x. 34, 35. Hence Moses is called a 
 God to Pharaoh, Exod. vii. 1 ; the term God in this place, 
 
 as 
 
EMANUEL SWEDENBORG's WRITINGS. 99 
 
 as well as in those which immediately refer to the Divine 
 Being himself, being in the plural number, Elohlm. (*) 
 Since then angels are regarded as Gods, when any thing is 
 said to be eflFected by their ministry, the plural number is 
 used, to shew that the Lord acts through the medium of 
 subordinate agents or instruments, as in the first chapter of 
 Genesis, where the regeneration of man, or the formation 
 of him into a new creature, is the subject treated of. And 
 again in the third chapter, where allusion is made to the 
 state of the celestial man, who as a man, a mere finite crea- 
 ture, cannot justly be compared with the Lord, but may 
 with the angels, who were tliemselves once men, it is with 
 great propriety said, that man " was as one of us in know- 
 ing good and evil ;" in other words, that he was once wise 
 and intelligent, like an angel. 
 
 Li order to prove a trinity of persons, Mr. Pike quotes 
 a variety of passages from the Word , and from the Apostolic 
 Epistles, all of which, it is true, announce a distinction be- 
 tween the Father and the Son, and some of them extend 
 it to the Holy Spirit ; but not one of them makes the least 
 mention of a trinity of j)^rsons, Avhich yet is the very point 
 
 he 
 
 (*) One of the chief arguments in favour of a trinily of <Uvine persons is built 
 upon the word Elohim, a noun of the plural number, and literally signifj-ing Gods, 
 though usually rendered God in the singulai-. But in the case above cited the same 
 term, which is applied to the Divine Being, is also applied to Moses. Will any 
 one therefore be so devoid of reason as to argue, that Moses consisted of three per- 
 sons, because the plural noun Elohim is used in reference to him? The thing is too 
 absurd to gain a single proselyte. Why then should the use of the plural noun 
 Elohim be considered as a proof of the existence of three divine persons in the God- 
 head, seeing that it is equally applied to an individual man i The truth is, that 
 Moses represented the Lord, (Exod. iv. 16,) and also the divine law, of which he' 
 was the bearer, or medium of communication, to the people of Israel : and as the 
 divine law consists of many truths, though derived from one single source, therefore 
 lie is called Elohim, or Gods, in the plural number. For the same reason Jehovah, 
 as being the fountain of all divine truths, is also called Elohim, or Gods, not to 
 denote a. plurality of persons in the divine nature, but a plurality, nay an infinity of 
 d.ivine thinys in him, and proceeding from him. 
 
 n2 
 
100 A VINDICATION OF 
 
 he is aiming- at, and for which purpose he ransacks as it 
 were the whole volume of the New Testament, yet without 
 succeeding to his wish. The first he selects is this, " Go ye, 
 teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, 
 and of the Son, and of the Hohj Spirit,'" Matt, xxviii. 20 ; 
 evidently pointing out a distinction in the divine nature, not 
 of jjersons, as Mr. Pike and others would have it, to the 
 destruction of the divine unity, but of essentials in the single 
 person of the Lord, as the verse immediately following clearly 
 proclaims, and as Swedenborg with every truly rational man 
 most cheerfully affirms. Go, says our Lord, and baptize all 
 nations, " teaching them to observe all things whatsoever / 
 have commanded you ; and lo, I am with you always even 
 unto the end of the world," or consummation of the age, 
 ver. 21 : being as much as to say, that he himself their omni- 
 present Legislator was all that was meant by the terms 
 Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, in whose name they were to 
 baptize and teach. Accordingly his disciples went forth 
 agreeably to his Word, and baptized in the name of Jesus 
 only. Acts ii. 38. Chap. viii. 16. Chap. x. 48. Chap. xix. 5. 
 In his name only they healed the lame man, Acts iii. 6, 16. 
 Chap. iv. 10 to 12 : in his name only a spirit of divination 
 was cast out of a young woman, Acts xvi. 18 : and in his 
 name only all their wonderful acts were performed. 
 
 That there is a divine trinity, is plainly declared in the 
 Sacred Scriptures. But in what sense this trinity is to be 
 understood, whether as consisting of three divine persons, 
 each of whom singly and separately is God, which is mani- 
 festly the same thing as an acknowledgment of three Gods ; 
 or whether it is to be viewed in some other way more con- 
 sistent with the Scriptures, with the divine unity, and with 
 sound reason, is the point at issue between the New Church 
 and the Old, between the angels of Michael and the angels 
 of the dragon, Apoc. xii. 7. It is asserted by the Old 
 Church, that the trinity consists of three persons, as so many 
 distinct beings ; and that these three are nevertheless one. 
 
 To 
 
EMANUEL SWEDENBORGS WRITINGS. 101 
 
 To the question, How can three be one .' the answer is, that 
 it is not a matter of reason, but of revelation ; that it is a 
 mystery not to be unfolded, nor even examined by a curious 
 eye ; and that the understanding ought to be kept in a state 
 of blind obedience to faith. On the other hand, it is main- 
 tained by tte New Church, that the Father, Son, and Holy 
 Spirit, are three essentials of One God, like soul, body, and 
 operation in man ; also that the Saviour Jesus Christ is that 
 One God ; and that this view of the divine trinity is alike 
 scriptural, rational, and competent to explain, in the most 
 satisfactory manner, all that is written concerning the inter- 
 course and union subsisting between the Father and the Son, 
 and concerning the mission or proceeding of the Holy Spirit 
 from both. 
 
 For the sake of illustration, let us for a few moments at- 
 tend to the striking analogy and resemblance, which are dis- 
 coverable in the divine and in the human trinity. The FatJier 
 is represented in the Word as invisible, and inaccessible 
 except through the medium of the Son : so the human soul is 
 invisible, and inaccessible except through the medium of it's 
 body. The Son is described as the manifestation, form, and 
 image of the Father, by whom the will of the Father is made 
 known, and who doeth the works of the Father : so the body 
 is in like manner the manifestation, form, and image of the 
 soul, by which the will of the soul is made known, and which 
 doeth the works of the soul. And the Holy Spirit is said to 
 proceed from the Father and the Son jointly : so the opera- 
 tions of the soul and body together may be said to proceed 
 from both, and to be as it were sent forth from them into 
 outward nature. Again, the Father is said to dwell in the 
 Son, just as the soul dwells in the body : and the Son is 
 said to possess all things belonging to the Father, to have 
 received and to exercise all his power, and in short to be the 
 very habitation of all the fulness of the Godhead bodily ; 
 just as the body may be said to possess, to have received, 
 and to exercise all the powers and energies of the soul, and 
 
 in 
 
102 A VINDICATION OF 
 
 in a similar manner to be the ver)' seat, abode, or liabitatiou 
 of the whole soul. The Son is said to have been sent into 
 the world by the Father, because the Humanity was conceived 
 by the power of the Divinity. He is also said to have life in 
 himself, just as the Father hath, because the Divinity and 
 Humanity are united in one person, as the soul and body are 
 united in one man, whatsoever is done by the one being at 
 the same time done by the other also. Hence, when the 
 prophet Isaiah predicted the birth of the Son, he declared 
 that very offspring of the Father to be, in a certain respect, 
 the everlasting Father himself, Isa. ix. 6, because they are 
 inseparably one, like the soul and body of a man, though 
 still capable of being distinguished, as the soul is distin- 
 guishable from the body. Hence also, when Philip desired 
 to see the Father, supposing him to be a different Being 
 from the Lord, whom he then addressed, he received for 
 answer, " He that hath seen me, hath seen the Father," John 
 xiv. 9: as much as to say, " He that hath seen the Humanity, 
 hath seen all that can be seen of the Divinity. And hence 
 again the Son of Man, when seen by John in the midst of 
 the seven golden candlesticks, saith, " I am Alpha and 
 Omega, the Beginning and the Finding, the First and the 
 Last, who Was, who Is, and who Is To Come, the Almighty,^' 
 Apoc. 1. 8, 11, 17. 
 
 That the Holy Spirit is the virtue or operation proceed- 
 ing immediately from the Lord, that is, from the Humanity 
 and Divinity united, is plain from this circumstance, that 
 after his resurrection " he breathed on his disciples, and 
 saith unto them, Receive ye the Holy Spirit," John xx. 22 : 
 from which it evidently follows, that the hreath or divine 
 truth proceeding from him is what is properly called the 
 Holy Spirit. This divine ti'uth proceeding from his Huma- 
 nity, when glorified, is in certain respects distinguishable from 
 that divine truth, which he uttered, and which he himself 
 was, before his glorification, that is, before his crucifixion 
 and resurrection : on which account it is written, after he 
 
 had 
 
EMANUEL SWEDENBORGS WRITINGS. 103 
 
 had given a general invitation to the people to come unto 
 him, and to drink living water, " But this spake he of the 
 Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive : for the 
 Holy Spirit was not yet, because that Jesus was not yet 
 glorified," John vii. 39. And further, as every thing pro- 
 ceeding from the Lord must partake of his divine quality, 
 and thus be in a manner identified with him, we therefore 
 find, that when in one place, John xvi. 7, he promises to 
 send the Comforter, the Spirit of truth, after his departure 
 from the world, and in another place, John xiv. 16, 17, en- 
 gages that the Father shall send him, he at length plainly 
 declares, that he himself, as the fountain and source of all 
 divine truth, is that very Comforter, that same Holy Spirit, 
 of whom he was speaking: " I will not leave you comfortless 
 (says he); I ivill come to you " John xiv. 18. And lastly, as 
 the most undeniable testimony, that both the Father and the 
 Son, together with the Holy Spirit, are identified as one and 
 the same Comforter, that was promised to visit and to dwell 
 with and in his people, our Lord, in answer to Judas, says, 
 " If a man love me, he will keep my words ; and my Father 
 will love him, and we ivill come unto him, and make our 
 abode with him," John xiv. 23. 
 
 All this Mr. Pike flatly denies, p. 11, because he cannot 
 comprehend how " the Father can be at once Father, Son, 
 and Holy Spirit," or how the three essentials of Divinity, 
 Humanity, and Operation, can be constituent of one God, 
 as the soul, body, and operation are of one man. But he 
 finds no difficulty in admitting, that three persons, each of 
 whom is a separate and distinct God, form all together only 
 one God ; as if the multiplication of Gods had the effect of 
 diminishing their number ! a mystery well worthy of such a 
 faith, which shuns the light of truth, and closes the eye of 
 the understanding in worse than Egyptian darkness. 
 
 Because the Scriptures, according to the eastern manner 
 of personifying and embodying things, principles, and es- 
 sences, declare, that God sent his Son into the world, and 
 
 that 
 
104 A VINDICATION OF 
 
 that Jesus came down from heaven to do the will of him that 
 sent him, it is inferred, that they must of necessity he two 
 persons : (*) for were it otherwise, says Mr. Pike, and 
 were Jesus absolutely God the Father himself, then he would 
 have come unsent, and he should have said, ** Sent by no 
 one, I came from heaven to do my own will." However 
 strange it may appear to those, who are unacquainted with 
 the true nature of divine language, which is infinitely superior 
 to the petty rules of gramnmr, on which I observe Mr. Pike, 
 Mr. Roby, whom he has pressed into his service, Mr. Grundy, 
 Dr. Priestley, Dr. Bayley, and other opposers of the New 
 Church, have built their respective systems, it is a fact 
 equally founded upon the Old Testament, and testified by 
 our Lord himself in the New, that the sender and the person 
 sent are in this case one and the same Divine Being. It is 
 acknowledged on all hands, that Jehovah the Father is the 
 sender, and that the Saviour and Redeemer of the world is 
 the person sent. Now Jehovah saith of himself, " I am 
 Jehovah, and beside me there is no Saviour" Isa. xliii. 11. 
 " I Jehovah am thi/ Saviour and Redeemer^ Isa. xlix. 26. 
 The prophet also, addressing Jehovah, saith, " Doubtless 
 thou art our Father, though Abraham be ignorant of us, and 
 Israel acknowledge us not : thou, O Jehovah, art our Father, 
 our Redeemer ; thy name is from everlasting," Isa. Ixiii. 16. 
 Again, Jesus said unto the Jews, " He that sent me, is with 
 me: the Father hath not left me alone" John viii. 29. " The 
 Father is in me, and I in him," John x. 38. " He that 
 believeth on me, believeth not on me (separately from the 
 Father), but on him that sent me : And he that seeth me, 
 seeth ?iim that sent me," John xii. 44, 45. " I and the 
 
 Father 
 
 (*) The objection, which is here noticed, was long ago urged by Dr. Priestley, 
 and has been repeated by others since his time. Indeed the greater part of Mr. 
 Pike's objections have been answered over and over again. See the Rev. J. 
 Clowes's Letters to the Rev. J. Grundy, and to the Rev. W. Roby; also the 
 Anthor's Letters to Dr. Priestley, and his Seal upon the Lips of Unitarians and 
 Trinitarititis, &c. &c. 
 
emanueC swedenborg's writings. 105 
 
 Father are one,^ John x. 30. Here the very doctrine ob- 
 jected to is plainly asserted by our Lord, viz. that he and 
 the Father, who sent him, are one and the same. Not that 
 the Humanity was in all respects the same as the Divinity ; 
 for the former was visible, while the latter was invisible ; but 
 both together constituted one divine person, of which the 
 Divinity or Father was the soul, and the Humanity or Son 
 was the body ; and we have already seen, that tJiese two, 
 though distinguished by name, are regarded in the Sacred 
 Scriptures as One God manifested in the flesh, for the 
 redemption and salvation of his creatures. 
 
 It is further insisted upon, by those who deny the Father 
 and the Son to be one person, like the soul and body in man, 
 that it is a " palpable absurdity" to suppose, that these two, 
 the soul and the body, can address each other, and speak of 
 each other, as the Father and the Son are known to do. 
 The answer to this is short and plain. It is the usual language 
 of divine inspiration, which, as before observed, personifies 
 things, principles, and states of life, giving to each the ap- 
 pearance of a separate existence, when at the same time it is 
 only intended to shew, in a sensible manner, the nature of the 
 intercourse and communication between things internal and 
 things external, belonging to one and the same individual. 
 Hence David with his external addresses his internal in the 
 following manner : " Bless Jehovah, O my soul; and all that 
 is within me, bless his holy name. Bless Jehovah, O my 
 soul, and forget not all his benefits ; who forgiveth all thine 
 iniquities ; who liealeth all thy diseases ; who redeemeth thy 
 life from destruction ; who crowneth thee with loving-kindness 
 and tender mercies ; who satisfieth thy mouth with good 
 things, so that thy youth is renewed like the eagles," Ps. 
 ciii. 1 to 5. " Why art thou cast down, O my soul? And 
 why art thou disquieted within me?" Ps, xlii. 5, 11. Ps. 
 xliii. 5. " Return to thy rest, O my soul ; for Jehovah hath 
 dealt bountifully with thee," Ps. cxvi. 7. " Praise Jehovah, 
 O my soul," Ps. cxlvi. 1. Deborah also, in her song after 
 the death of Sisera, addresses her own soul, saying, " O my 
 
 o soul, 
 
106 A VINDICATION OP 
 
 soul, thou hast trodden down strength," Judg. v. 21. And 
 old Jacob, in his prophetic denunciation of Simeon and Levi, 
 whose conduct had sorely grieved him, says, " O my soul, 
 come not tJiou into their secret; unto their assembly, mine 
 honour, be not thou united," Gen. xlix. 6. The same mode 
 of speech is adopted in the parable of the rich man, who 
 was covetous, and desirous of enlarging his barns : after 
 resolving on this measure, he adds, " / will say to my soul. 
 Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years ; take 
 thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry," Luke xii. 19. 
 
 In these passages David, Deborah, Jacob, and the rich 
 man, address their own souls in the plainest terms ; yet who, 
 besides Mr. Pike and his friends, ever supposed, that their 
 souls were different and iS\?,i\nci persons from their bodies, or 
 from themselves i If there be any " palpable absurdity" in 
 the case, it must lie on the side of those gentlemen, who, 
 having these examples before their eyes, still ignorantly and 
 obstinately assert, that it is foreign to the nature of divine 
 language to represent the soul and body of a man as convers- 
 ing with and addressing each other, in all respects as if they 
 were two distinct beings, when at the same time it is well 
 known, that both together constitute only one individual. In 
 like manner, when the Sacred Scriptures represent the Son 
 as introducing to the Father, as mediating and interceding 
 with him for the human race, and also as sitting at his 
 right hand, they conceive it impossible, that any other idea 
 can be attached to the terms, than what they usually and 
 literally import, namely, a personal distinction between the 
 Father and the Son : and hence they reason, as Mr. Pike 
 has done, p. 11, " If Jesus were the Father, Avith whom 
 would he intercede ? To what God would he introduce those 
 he saves ? On the throne of what Father would he have sat 
 down?" Such vain and idle questions in the first place betray 
 ignorance of the true scriptural sense of mediation and inter- 
 cession, which are terms expressive of the divine mercy, 
 clemency, and grace of One God in his Humanity ; in re- 
 ference to which circumstance the Son is called a Mediator 
 
 and 
 
EMANUEL SWEDENBORg's WRITINGS. 107 
 
 and Intercessor with the Father, because the Humanity is 
 the only Medium, whereby man has access to the divine 
 nature, and by which lie receives the blessings of redemption 
 and salvation. Intercession is perpetual mediation in the 
 way thus described. In the next place, the questions above 
 quoted are grounded on the false supposition, that there is 
 some God greater than Jesus Christ, to whom men are to be 
 introduced by him, in order that they may be completely 
 happy ; as if the Saviour himself had not a sufficiency of 
 Divinity for his share, when portioned out by these triperson- 
 alists, to bless with final and eternal salvation those who had 
 worshipped him as their God ! A shameful indignity this 
 offered to the person and character of that Lord, who came 
 into the world to effect the redemption and salvation of his 
 own people, by his own divine arm, Isa. Ixiii. 5, 8 ; whom 
 Peter addressed, saying, " Lord, to whom shall we go? thou 
 hast the words of eternal life,''' John vi. G8 ; and who himself 
 says in the Gospel, " Come unto me, all ye that labour, and 
 are heavy-laden, and / will give you rest,'' Matt. xi. 28. 
 " I am the way, and the truth, and the life," John xiv. 6. 
 " I and my Father are one," John x. 30. " I am Alpha and 
 Omega, the Beginning and the End, the First and the Last," 
 Apoc. xxii. 13. 
 
 This doctrine concerning the person of the Lord, and 
 his identity with Jehovah the Father himself, from whom 
 proceeds the Holy Spirit of truth, is the only scriptural and 
 rational view that can be taken of the divine trinity, the only 
 one also that is consistent with the divine unity, being free 
 from those manifold contradictions and absurdities, which 
 necessarily attend the tripersonal scheme. Yet excellent as 
 it is, and worthy of universal reception, it has to sustain the 
 attacks of many enemies, though it can never be combated 
 with any reasonable hope of success. Romish priests, minis- 
 ters of the Church of England, Methodists, Armiuians, 
 Calvinists, Unitarians, and Baptists, have all concurred in 
 assailing the doctrines of the New Church, and especially 
 that of the divine trinity in one person ; but hitherto their 
 
 o 2 united 
 
108 A VINDICATION OF 
 
 united efforts have in vain been exerted to rob the Saviour of 
 his exclusive Divinity, and to remove from his head that 
 crown oi" glory, which the Sacred Scriptures have awarded 
 him, not as a joint possession in common with two otliers, 
 but as his own sole right, in quality oi" Creator, Redeemer, 
 and Regenerator of mankind. These kings of the earth, 
 these rulers of the church, have in their rage imagined a 
 vain thing ; they have set themselves in array, they have 
 taken counsel together, against Jehovah, and agauist his 
 Anointed, that is, against the Divine Essence and the Divine 
 Form, the Divinity and the Humanity, united as they are in 
 the person of Jesus Christ. But their bands have been 
 broken asunder, tiieir cords have been cast away, and the 
 lawful Sovereign of the church has been placed upon the 
 holy hill of Zion, where he shall continue to reign, until the 
 heatlien become his inheritance, and the uttermost parts of 
 tlie earth his possession. Ps. ii. 1 to 8. (*) 
 
 3. THE LORD BECAME THE WORD EVEN IN IT'S 
 ULTIMATES. 
 
 Another gross misrepresentation, which Mr. Pike has 
 been guilty of, in mutilating the language of Swedenborg, 
 and omitting those vei*y expressions on which his argument 
 
 hinges, 
 
 (*) The translators of tlie Bible, by adding the word saying at the end of 
 verse 2 of the 2d Psalm, have put the language contained in the 3d verse into the 
 mouth of the Lord's enemies, and made them to say, " Let us break their bands 
 asunder, and cast away tht-ir cords from us." But this is a plain perversion of the 
 original text, and generates an idea that was never intended to be excited by the 
 inspired penman. And it may well be asked, \\ hut haiids, what cords have 
 Jehovah and his Anointed prepared for any of the children of men, that require 
 to be buTst asunder ? The truth is, that the false and evil principles, represented 
 by the kings of the earth, and the rulers of the people, do actually combine together 
 to overthrow the genuine doctrine of the Divinity of tlie Lord's Humanity, and 
 thus to deprive his real worshippers of that spiritual liberty and happiness, which 
 result from the acknowledgment and possession of the truth, John viii. 32. It is 
 therefore against those spiritual enemies, that the Psalmist, in the name of the 
 church, exclaims, " Let us break their bands asundet, and cast away tbeir cords 
 from us." 
 
EMANUEL SWEDENBORGS WRITINGS. 109 
 
 hinges, occurs at the beginning of p, 12. But a fraud of 
 this kind, committed on tlie unsuspecting- reader, apparently 
 for tlie purpose of biassing his mind against the author in 
 question, and against doctrines which can never be over- 
 thrown, must, when detected, like every ungenerous act, 
 return without a blessing to him who gave it birth. Speak- 
 ing of the Baron, Mr. Pike says, " This man contradicts 
 the Scriptures again, by asserting that Christ became the 
 Word, by fulfilling what was written there." Then, to 
 shew wherein the contradiction consists, he makes the fol- 
 lowing quotations : 
 
 " SwEDENBORG. — " The Lord, during his abode in the 
 world, fulfilled all things contained in the Word, and thereby 
 ivas made the Word:' Tr. Chr. Rel. 261. 
 
 " The Holy Scriptures, — " In the heginning ivas 
 the Word. All things were made hy him. And the Word 
 teas made jlesh." John i. 1, 3, 14." 
 
 The injustice complained of in the preceding quotation 
 from Swedenborg, consists in the omission of certain words, 
 on which the true sense of the autlior depends. He observes, 
 that the Lord loas made the Word, and immediately adds, 
 " that is, divine truth, even in it's idtimatesT But these last 
 words are wilfully omitted by Mr. Pike, in order to make it 
 appear, that he contradicts the Scriptures, which say, that 
 the Lord was the Word in the beginning, or before the incar- 
 nation. The doctrine intended to be inculcated by Sweden- 
 borg is, that by the Lord's accomplishing or fulfilling the 
 Scriptures in his own person, while in the v/orld, he thereby 
 became the Word in ultimates or last jxrinciples, as he was 
 before the incarnation the same Word in first principles ; and 
 thus, as he was from all eternity the Alpha, so he became in 
 time the Omega also. Mr. Pike's design, however, is evi- 
 dently to represent Swedenborg as asserting, that the Lord 
 was not the Word originally, but only became such after his 
 incarnation, in the same sense, and in the same respect, as 
 the Scriptures declare him to have been fro7n the beginning. 
 Accordingly he attempts to form a contrast between Sweden- 
 borg 
 
110 A VINDICATION OF 
 
 hoYg and the Scriptures : but as he could not do this with 
 any shew of plausibility, in any other way than by omitting 
 that part ol" the sentence, which defines the sense in which 
 the Baron says the Lord became the Word, namely, as to 
 ultimates, he therefore hesitates not to mutilate the author in 
 the most essential part of his subject, and then to hold him 
 up to unmerited contempt. But let the noble Baron speak 
 for himself. 
 
 " That the Lord, during his abode in the world, ful- 
 filled all things contained in the Woi'd, and that he was 
 thereby made divine truth, or the Word, evert in it's ulti- 
 mates, is understood by these words in John, " And the 
 Word was m^ide flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld 
 his glory, the glory as of the Only-begotten of the Father, 
 full of grace and truth," Chap. i. 14 : to be made flesh, is 
 to be made the Word in it's ultimates. A representation 
 of the Lord, as the Word in it's ultimates, was exhibited 
 before his disciples at his transfiguration," Matt. xvii. 2, &c. 
 Mark ix. 2, &c. Luke ix. 28, &c. ; and it is there said, that 
 Moses and Elias appeared in glory. By Moses is meant 
 the Word which was written by him, and in general the 
 Historical Word ; and by Elias the Prophetical Word. Th» 
 Lord, as the Word in it's ultimates, was also represented 
 before John in the Revelation, Chap. i. 13 to 16; where 
 all parts of the description given of him signify the ultimates 
 of divine truth, or of the Word. The Lord indeed, before 
 his incarnation, was the Word, or divine truth ; but then it 
 was in iHs first or most pure essence, for it is said, " In the 
 beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, 
 and God was the Word," John i. 1 : but when the Word 
 was VL\<nAe flesh, then the Lord was made the Word in it's 
 ultimates also; and it is from this circumstance that he is 
 called the First and the Last, Apoc. i. 8, 11, 17. Chap. ii. 8. 
 Chap. xxi. 6. Chap. xxii. 13. Isa. xliv. 6." Tr. Chr. 
 Rel. 261. 
 
 The author then, in confirmation of the doctrine here 
 advanced, brings forward a great variety of passages, to 
 
 shew 
 
EMANUEL SWEDENBORGS WRITINGS. Ill 
 
 shew that the Lord came into the work! to fulfil the Scrip- 
 tures, and that they were actually fulfilled in, upon, and in 
 reference to, his person, agreeably to his own words, " All 
 things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of 
 Moses, and in the Prophets, and in the Psalms, concerning 
 vie," Luke xxiv. 44, 45. When upon the cross, " Jesus, 
 knowing" that all things were now accomplished, said, I 
 thirst;" and afterwards, " It in finished, ox fulfilled,'' Johu 
 six. 28, 30. 
 
 SECTION VIII. 
 
 A Denial of the Divine Omnipotence falsely im^ 
 puted to Swedenborg. — 2. A supposed Contradic- 
 tion on this Flead cleared up. 
 
 I. TME DIVINE OMNIPOTENCE. 
 
 M. HE next objection, and one which betrays the most 
 eonsummate ignorance of the subject, is, p. 14, that " Swe- 
 denborg denies altogether the almighty power of God:" and, 
 to prove this charge, Mr. Pike quotes a passage from the 
 True Christian Religion, n. 58, where the autlior, after 
 having first demonstrated, that God cannot do any thing that 
 is evil, or contrary to his own divine order, because this 
 would be to act in ojjj^osition to himself and more like an 
 absolute tyrant, than a God o^ justice, truth, and order, 
 proceeds to observe as follows : " If the power of God were 
 thus absolute, he would never have permitted Adam to obey 
 the serpent, and eat the fruit of the tree of the knowledge 
 of good and evil ; neither would he have suffered Cain to 
 murder his brother; nor David to number the people; nor 
 Solomon to erect temples to idols ; nor the kings of Judah 
 
 and 
 
112 A VINDICATION OF 
 
 and Israel to profane the temple, as they so often did ; nay, 
 had his power been able to efl'ect it, he would certainly have 
 saved the whole human race without exception, through the 
 redemption wrought by his Son, and would have rooted out 
 all the powers of darkness in heil." 
 
 Without the shadow of argument or reason on his side, 
 Mr. Pike replies to this, and to all that is written in the 
 chapter on the omnipotence, omniscience, and omnipre- 
 sence of God, by a i'ew quotations from the \\ ord in proof 
 of the divine omnipotence, and then saying, that " the God 
 of the Bible, with whom all things are possible, is a different 
 Being from the God of Swedenborg." Thus he evades the 
 real question altogether, which is not. Whether God he om- 
 nipotent, or not ? this being admitted on all hands ; but. 
 What is the true nature of the divine omnipotence ? Can 
 God, merely by virtue of his power, do evil as well as good ? 
 Can he act in opposition to his own laws of divine order, as 
 laid down in (he Sacred Scriptures I Can he utter a wilful 
 falsehood I Can he renounce his attributes of mercy, justice, 
 and truth ? Can he deal with his intelligent creatures, to 
 whom he has granted the faculties of liberty and rationality, 
 as if they were mere stocks and stones l In short, can he 
 by the exertion of one attribute, and the suppression of all 
 the I'est, save the wicked, and condemn the righteous? Yes, 
 says Mr. Pike, all things are jJossihle with the God of the 
 Bible ! he can create intelligent beings for the sole purpose 
 of punishing and tormenting them ; he can make good, just, 
 and equal laws, and be the tirst to break them himself ; he 
 can require strict conformity to those laws, and yet with- 
 hold the power of yielding obedience to them ; he can con- 
 vert an angel into a devil, or a devil into an angel, at plea- 
 sure ; he can forswear himself, lie, cheat, and be guilty of 
 any vice, however odious, unclean, and diabolical ; and, to 
 crown all, he can make a royal palace of hell itself, set up 
 his throne therein, raise infernal spirits to the highest ho- 
 nours, while the righteous, the pious, and the good, are 
 consigned by the same omnipotent Being to everlasting 
 
 misery 
 
EMANUEL SWEDENBORGS WRITINGS. 113 
 
 misery and destruction. All this, together with every ab- 
 surd and contradictory proposition that can be named or con- 
 ceived by folly itself united with insanity, is involved and 
 virtually implied in Mr. Pike's crude, indigested, and ridi- 
 culous notion of the divine omnipotence. God, he thinks, 
 could have prevented Cain from killing Abel, or David from 
 numbering the people, if he ivould. But as he did not, we 
 are to infer, that he would not, and hence that murder and 
 other crimes are not against his will, but agreeable to it, 
 because he permits them, and could prevent them, if he 
 pleased. 
 
 As it is not the sole design of these sheets to expose 
 the erroi's and absurdities contained in Mr. Pike's pamphlet, 
 but at the same time to convey to the reader useful infoi-ma- 
 tion, and just views of the various subjects commented upon, 
 the following remarks on the laws of divine order, by which 
 all the divine operations are conducted, will, it is hoped, be 
 found acceptable to all those, whom the Divine Mercy has 
 blessed with faculties capable of discerning the truth. 
 
 Nothing is more important for man to know, than that 
 all the divine operations towards him are under the regu- 
 lation of laws, which can never be transgressed. For other- 
 wise he might imagine, that the divine mercy being infinite, 
 and the divine power unlimited, whatsoever the Supreme 
 Being might will, his omnipotence can effect, without any 
 regard to the fitness or unfitness of the subject, in and to- 
 wards whom he would display them. And hence too many 
 have concluded, that as his love wills the salvation of all his 
 creatures, and his wisdom knows how to accomplish it, 
 therefore his omnipotence is engaged to complete the work, 
 if not in one period, yet at another ; if not in this life, yet 
 in some future stage of existence, when evil itself shall be 
 abolished, and every intelligent being made completely 
 happy. 
 
 Again, there are others, who, in like manner believing 
 God to be omnipotent, according to the vulgar notion of 
 omnipotence, and yet reading in the Sacred Scriptures, that 
 
 p some 
 
114 A VINDICATION OF 
 
 some fev,, called the elect, will be saved, and the rest 
 totally lost, conclude in their own minds, and even assert 
 in their doctrine, that the one class is unconditionally pre- 
 destinated to heaven, while the other class, consisting of a 
 great majority of the human race, is consigned to eternal 
 damnation without hope or means of redemption. 
 
 It is also a prevailing opinion, not only among the 
 simple and illiterate, but even among the learned and wise, 
 (if they can be called such, who know nothing of the laws of 
 divine order,) that God, being omnipotent, created the world 
 out of nothing by the mere utterance of a word ; that he 
 governs it also in an arbitrary manner, by a power resem- 
 bling the absolute power of an eafttily monarch ; that, if he 
 please, he can at any time change the respective qualities 
 and tendencies of his creatures; that he can purge every 
 sinner upon earth, in a moment, from his sins ; that he can 
 renew, sanctify, regenerate, and make him a child of gracet^ 
 instead of a child of wrath, that is, justify him merely by the 
 application and imputation of the righteousness and merits of 
 his Son. In short, it is almost universally believed, that the 
 divine omnipotence is regulated by no laws whatever, but 
 that it can accomplish any thing or every thing that can be 
 proposed, however absurd or contradictory in itself; conse- 
 quently tliat salvation may be effected on the part of God, 
 without any regard to the freedom and rationality of man, or 
 the necessity of his co-operation in appropriating to himself 
 those principles of spiritual life, which, when so received, 
 can alone prepare him for a state of future happiness. 
 
 But the groundless surmises, above stated, vanish from 
 the mind, when it is known, that all the divine operations 
 towards man are conducted by laws of order, in themselves 
 immutable, because of the same essence with him, from 
 whom they proceed. These laws are the divine truths of the 
 Holy Word, which constitute that order, whereby man is to 
 be formed anew, and from which even omnipotence itself 
 cannot swerve. Nay, the divine omnipotence, so far from 
 acting contrary to, or independent of, the Word, uniformly 
 
 exerts 
 
EiMANUKL SWEDENBORG's WRITINGS. 115 
 
 exerts itself by ami according to it's laws : and it is this very 
 circumstance, that causes it to be what it really is. The 
 reason why the angels of heaven so far excel the spirits of 
 hell in respect to power, is, because the former act agree- 
 ably to order, while the latter are in opposition to it: and iii 
 proportion to their love of, and agreement with order, such 
 invariably is their power. Were they to depart from order, 
 their power would depart from them at the same time. Just 
 so, God, being infinite and essential order, is in consequence 
 thereof possessed of infinite and essential power. Were he 
 in any measure to depart from his own order, he would in 
 the same proportion immediately lose his omnipotence. But 
 as to depart from order ,Ajt'ould be the same thing as to depart 
 from himself, it is evident, that the divine omnipotence cau 
 perform nothing but what is consistent with the laws of order, 
 and that every supposition to the contrary is both irrational 
 and absurd. 
 
 The divine will and the divine power are one : and 
 since God wills nothing but what is good, it follows, that he 
 can do nothing but what is good also, and this in the way 
 and manner dictated by his OAvn infinite wisdom in the Sacred 
 Scriptures of divine truth. He cannot condemn, cast into 
 hell, or predestinate the soul of any person to eternal death. 
 He cannot avenge injuries ; neither can he be angry, and 
 punish. He cannot even turn away his foce from any one, or 
 regard him with the least severity of countenance ; these and 
 the like acts being totally contrary to his essence, and con- 
 sequently contrary to himself. Wheresoever, therefore, ex- 
 pressions of the kind are found in the Sacred Scriptures, 
 they are to be interpreted solely in reference to the wicked- 
 ness of man, who judges of the Lord according to the evil 
 state of his own mind. And as it appears to the wicked, 
 when they suffer the punishment due to their crimes, that 
 it is inflicted upon them by the Lord, whom they suppose 
 to be then angry with them, because he does not immediately 
 remove it, therefore, in agreement with such appearance, 
 anger, wrath, and fury, are frequently ascribed to him in 
 
 p2 the 
 
116 A VINDICATION OF 
 
 the Word, when yet, as before observed, nothing can in 
 reality be more foreign to the divine nature ; since, as the 
 Psahnist says, " Jehovah is good to all ; and his tender mer- 
 cies are over all his works," Ps. cxlv. 9. 
 
 On the other hand, it is equally true, that God cannot, ^ 
 by any mere act of mercy and omnipotence, convert evil into 
 good, hell into heaven, a devil into an angel, or an impeni- 
 tent sinner, M'ho obstinately refuses the terms of salvation, 
 into an heir of eternal life. These things are not within the 
 limits of divine order, and therefore cannot be performed by 
 any sovereign or absolute act even of omnipotence itself. 
 The only way, whereby the divine operations can effectually 
 change man, is that laid down in the Holy Word, which is, 
 that he suffer himself to be brought into order, and recipro- 
 cally on his part to enter into conjunction with the Lord, 
 while the Lord on his part enters into conjunction with him, 
 agreeably to these words in the Gospel, " Abide in me, and 
 I in you," John xv. 4. (*) 
 
 These observations are capable of ample proof from the 
 Word itself, which uniformly teaches, that the Lord cannot 
 save those, who obstinately continue in their sins, and refuse 
 all the offers of mercy so abundantly held out to them. " Why 
 tvill ye die, O house of Israel I 1 have no pleasure in the 
 death of him that dieth, saith the Lord Jehovih : wherefore 
 turn ye, and live," Ezek. xyiii. 31, 32. " Your iniquities 
 have separated between you and your God, and your sins 
 have hid his face from you, that he will not hear," Isa. lix. 2. 
 ** O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, hoio often tcould I have gathered 
 thy children together, as a hen gathereth her chickens under 
 her wings, and ye would not," Matt, xxiii. 37. Here the 
 Lord himself declares, that it was his "ivill and most anxious 
 desire to save his people; and yet, notwithstanding his mercy * 
 and his omnipotence, that he could not do so, because they 
 
 themselves 
 
 (*) See Compendium of the Chief Doctrines of the True Christian Beliyion, 
 p. 126 to 131. See also Letters to Dr. Priestley, p. 238 to 244, where the same 
 subject is treated of. 
 
EMANUEL SWEDENBORg's WRITINGS. 117 
 
 tliemselves loould not fi-eely turn to him, and be saved. 
 Again, it is written in the Evangelist, that when Jesus went 
 into his own country, the people " were offended in him. 
 And he did not many mighty works there, because of their 
 unbelief, '^ Matt. xiii. 58. But in Mark it is said, that " he 
 could not do any mighty work there, save that he laid his 
 hands upon a few sick folk, and healed them," Chap. vi. 5 : 
 the reason of which is stated in the next verse to have excited 
 his astonishment, for " he marvelled because of their unbelief." 
 So that the omnipotence of Jesus, that is, of God rnca,rnate, 
 was as it were arrested and limited by the unbelief of the 
 people. We read, also, in the book of Judges, that " Jeho- 
 vah was with Judah, and he drave out the inhabitants of the 
 mountain, but could not drive out the inhabitants of the valley; 
 because they had chariots of iron," Chap. i. 19 ; the true 
 spiritual reason of which circumstance was, because the 
 children of Judah did not in their hearts fully acknowledge 
 Jehovah to be superior to all the gods of the nations sur- 
 rounding them ; and therefore Jehovah coidd only drive out 
 the inhabitants of the mountain, whose gods were despised 
 by Judah, but could not drive out those of the valley, whose 
 gods were still supposed equal or superior in power to him, 
 in consequence of the false persuasions and idolatrous pro- 
 pensities, which they cherished in themselves in common with 
 their enemies. These false persuasions and idolatrous pro- 
 pensities are signified by the chariots of iron, which formed 
 the real obstacle to the manifestation of the full power of the 
 omnipotent God : for it is only in proportion, or according to 
 the degree of man's co-operation with the Lord, by a true 
 faith in conjunction with charity, that the Lord can remove 
 from him the various evils and falses which infest him, and 
 which were represented in ancient times by the hostile nations 
 that surrounded Israel and Judah. On any other principle 
 than that here laid down, let Mr. Pike, or any one of his 
 partisans, produce even the shadow of a reason, why chariots 
 of iron should set a limit to the divine omnipotence, or why 
 " the God of the Bible" should himself acknowledge by the 
 
 inspired 
 
118 A VINDICATION OF 
 
 inspired penman, that he could not drive out the innabilants 
 of the valley. To him and his brethren of the Old Church, 
 the Deists, as well as others, have long been looking for a 
 solution of this and other eKtiaordiuary things related in the 
 Sacred Scriptures ; but in vain : lor hitherto neither priest, 
 bishop, nor pope, has condescended to give them the required 
 satisfaction. 
 
 2. A SUPPOSED CONTRADICTION ON THIS HEAD 
 CLEARED UP. 
 
 Mr. Pike imagines he has discovered a contradiction in 
 the Baron, because in one place he says, that " if the power 
 of God were thus absolute, (referring to the exertion of power 
 alone, without any regard to divine order,) he would have 
 rooted out all the powers of darkness in hell ;" and in another 
 place, that " if Jehovah God had only breathed on the in- 
 habitants of hell, he would have deprived them instantly of 
 life ;" adding in proof of the assertion, what Jehovah said to 
 Moses, who was desirous of seeing him, " Thou canst not 
 see my face; for there shall no man see me, and live,'' Exod. 
 xxxiii. 20. Where now is the contradiction in these pas- 
 sages i Do they not both express the same sentiment, though 
 in dift'erent language I Does not the one state, that the mere 
 exertion of power, and the other, that the overwhelming pre- 
 sence of the Deity such as he is in himself, independently 
 of divine order, and a merciful regard for the being and 
 condition of his creatures, would be attended with their utter 
 destruction, or extinction of life .' And is it not plain to 
 every intelligent mind, that it is not the iv ill of the Creator, 
 whose very nature it is to impart life to others out of himself, 
 that they should be altogether annihilated ; and if not his ivill, 
 that assuredly it is not within the limits of his power thus to 
 act, in opposition to every law of the divine order, since his 
 will and his power are commensurate the one with the other, 
 go hand in hand together, and can never by any possibility 
 be separated t It is really painful to contemplate the lengths, 
 
 to 
 
EMANUEL SWEDENBORG's WRITINGS. 119 
 
 to which prejudice, passion, and a total disregard to all con- 
 sistency of character, will hurry even a professed minister of 
 the gospel, if he can only for a short-lived day (that is, until 
 his arts are detected and exposed) succeed in propagating- 
 the most palpable falsehoods and calumnies against a man, 
 whose whole life and labours have been devoted to the welfare 
 of the community, and to the interests of true religion. 
 
 SECTION IX. 
 
 , God is not that angry, vindictive, and relentless 
 Beitig, which Mr. Pike and many others take 
 him to he, in Consequence of not understanding his 
 Word. — 2. Comparison heiween Mr. Pike's God, 
 and the God of Emanuel Swedenhorg. 
 
 1. GOD IS NOT AN ANGRY, VINDICTIVE, AND RELENT- 
 LESS BEING. 
 
 XT is again objected to Baron Swedenborg, p, 14, that 
 he vindicates the Divine Being from the aspersions so con- 
 tinually cast upon him by those who read without understand- 
 ing his Word. Mr. Pike, with all the zeal of a furious and 
 sanguinary bigot, asserts, and endeavours to prove by a variety 
 of quotations from the Sacred Scriptures, distorted to his own 
 purpose, that God is " an angry, fiei'ce, vindictive, and re- 
 lentless Being ; that he is ready, on the slightest offence, to 
 take vengeance on his enemies; to rain snares, fire and brim- 
 stone, and a horrible tempest, upon every one of them ; and 
 that, as he is able to punish, so he will o.n all proper occasions 
 distribute sorrows in his anger, and inflict miseries in his in- 
 
 dianation." 
 
120 A VINDICATION OF 
 
 dignation." While, on the contrary, Baron Swedenborg, 
 with all the mildness and enlightened benevolence of an 
 angel, proclaims, in the true spirit of that religion, which 
 descended from on high, that " the Lord, who delights in 
 mercy and forgiveness, imputes good to man whenever it is 
 to be found in him, and not the least sort or degree of evil, 
 this latter being the part or office of the accuser of the 
 brethren; that God in himself is never angry, that he never 
 avengeth, hateth, condemneth, punisheth, casteth into hell, 
 or causeth evil to any one ;" but that it is man, instigated by 
 the devil, or hell, who, by his acts of wickedness and dis- 
 obedience to the divine law, brings on himself all the evils 
 of punishment ; and that such evils, together with wrath, 
 anger, and fury, are in the letter of the Word ascribed to 
 the Lord, only because they appear to the wicked and to the 
 uninstructed as if they proceeded from him, and that they 
 might further operate as a terror to evil-doers. 
 
 2. COMPARISON BETWEEN MR. PIKE'S GOD, AND THE 
 GOD OF EMANUEL SWEDENBORG. 
 
 As Mr. Pike is fond of comparing Gods, let the reader 
 now follow his example, and mark in the preceding contrast 
 the difference of character between Mr. Pike's God and the 
 God of Emanuel Swedenborg. The former is represented 
 as a God of wrath, vengeance, and fierce anger, kind only 
 to his friends, hating and punishing his enemies, instead of 
 forgiving them, as he directs others to do ; "a hard and 
 austere man," Matt. xxv. 24. Luke xix. 21 ; highly suscep- 
 tible of offence, and when irritated, to be appeased only by 
 blood, not the blood of the guilty and rebellious alone, but a 
 sweeter potion, the blood of the innocent. The latter, or the 
 God of Emanuel Swedenborg, is described by him as a God 
 of infinite and universal love, mercy, and compassion ; a 
 tender Parent to all his offspring without exception; as it 
 were " deaf and blind to the infirmities of his children," Isa. 
 xlii. 19, 20; " long-suffering and abundant in goodness and 
 
 truth," 
 
EMANUEL SWEDENBORG S WRITINGS. 121 
 
 truth," Exod. xxxiv. 7; ''pardoning iniquity, passing by 
 transgression, delighting in mercy," Mioah vii. 18; incapable 
 of revenge, requiring no sacrifice or burnt-offering to render 
 him propitious, much less the shedding of innocent blood as an 
 atonement and satisfaction for the sins of the guilty, Ps. xl. 6. 
 Ps. li. 16, 17. Hos. vi. 6 ; ready on the first sign of repentance, 
 while the sinner " is yet a great way off, to run, and fall on 
 Jiis neck, and kiss him," Luke xv. 20; and stipulating as the 
 only condition, which man is expected to observe, in order 
 to his being qualified for the enjoyment of eternal happiness, 
 that he " do justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with his 
 God," Micah vi. 8 ; and at the same time that he believe in 
 the Lord as God manifested in the flesh, John i. 14. Chapi. 
 iii. 36. Chap. vi. 40, 47. Such is the immense difference 
 between the character of the God, whom Mr. Pike professes 
 to worship, the character of a Molech, a Juggernaut, a 
 tyrant, whose heavy chariot is the signal of death and despair ; 
 and that of the true God of heaven and earth, ^hom Emanuel 
 Swedenborg proclaims to the world; a God, "who is good 
 to all, whose tender mercies are over all his works," Ps. 
 cxlv. 9 ; and who has proved himself to be the mild Parent, 
 Protector, and Benefactor of his people. 
 
 The prophet Micah says, Chap. iv. 5, that " all people 
 will walk in the name of their God;' that is, m the spirit 
 and temper of the God whom they profess to acknowledge. 
 If he be a God of mercy, justice, and truth, this character 
 will be impressed on the man who worships him, and Avill be 
 manifested in all the actions of his life. Accordingly we find*, 
 tbat Emanuel Swedenborg always conducted himself in such 
 a manner, as to prove the sincerity of his professions, by 
 living in the true spirit of charity towards his neighbour, and 
 thus walking in the name of his God. But if the God set up in 
 the heart be considered as subject to passion, hatred, revenge, 
 and fury, with other odious and mutable attributes, there is 
 reason to expect, that such vicious propensities will be too 
 freely indulged by the person who thus regards the object of 
 hjs worship : for what a man reveres in his God, will always 
 
 Q be 
 
122 A VINDICATION OF 
 
 be thought by him worthy of imitation. Heuce, if we are to 
 judge of Mr. Pike by the character he has given of his owp 
 God, (which we are very unwilling to do,) what must be the 
 conclusion, but that he walks in the same spirit and temper 
 as that which he so highly extols t consequently that he is 
 *' an austere man ;" highly susceptible of offence ; and when 
 irritated, that he is a malevolent, fierce, vindictive, and re- 
 lentless being? This cannot, however, be the character of 
 a good and pious Christian, as Mr. Pike is represented to be : 
 neither is it meant to be insinuated, that he (Mr. Pike) is 
 actually such as he represents his God to be : but were he to 
 follow up his own principles, and practically exhibit in his 
 familv, and among his neighbours, those hateful dispositions, 
 ■which he so rashly ascribes to the Deity, he could not pos- 
 sibly be regarded by them in any other light, than as a tyran- 
 nical master, and a kind of demon in human flesh. How 
 then dares he to calumniate the God of heaven and earth, 
 by imputing to him such vile passions, as would disgrace 
 even a Nero, and be held in detestation by every honourable 
 and virtuous mind? (*) 
 
 The sentiments of Swedenborg, and the doctrine which 
 he inculcates on this most important subject, are so appro- 
 priate, and so interesting, that the reader cannot fail to 
 derive both instruction and benefit from them. His own 
 words are as follow. " Even reason assents to the truth of 
 this proposition, viz. That the Lord cannot do evil to any 
 man, consequently cannot impute evil to any, inasmuch as 
 he is essential love and essential mercy, and thus essential 
 
 goodness. 
 
 ( * ) It is reported, that Pope Jnlius the 3d had beeu greatly enraged with 
 the Bishop of Rimini, his Major-domo, about a peacock ; that His Holiness twice 
 blasphemed, (uttering such profane oaths as are too shocking to repeat,) which 
 he did as John Maria de Monte, and as a mere man, not as Julius the 3d, Pope 
 and Vicar of Christ ; and that when one of the Cardinals told him, that he ought 
 not to be so angry upon so small a matter, the Pope answered, " If God was so 
 much distuibed, and filled with such anger and fury, and did such a quantity of 
 evils to the whole human race about an apple ; why may not I, who am his Vicar 
 upon earth, be angry with my Major-domo aboat a peacock ?"' Examiner of Mat^ 
 18, 1817. 
 
EMANUEL SWEDENBORG S WRITINGS. 123 
 
 goodness, these being properties of his divine essence: where- 
 fore to attribute evil, or any thing connected with evil, to 
 the Lord, would be contradictory to his divine essence, and 
 as wicked a thing as to join the Lord and the devil together, 
 or to unite heaven and hell, when yet " between tliem there is 
 a great (jtilf fixed, so that the i/ ivho would jyass from one to 
 the other cannot,'' Luke xvi. 2G. It is not possible even for 
 an angel of heaven to do evil to any one, because the essence 
 of good from the Lord is in him ; and on the other hand, it 
 is impossible for a spirit of hell not to do evil to another, 
 because the nature of evil from the devil is in him: the essence 
 or nature, which any one hath appropriated to himself during 
 his abode in the world, cannot be changed after death. Con- 
 sider, I beseech you, what sort of a Being would the Lord 
 be, supposing him to regard the wicked with an eye of w rath, 
 and the good with an eye of mercy? The wicked are millions 
 upon millions in number, and so also are the good : supposing 
 then the Lord to save the latter by an act of grace, and to 
 condemn the former by an act of vengeance, and to look 
 upon these with a fierce and implacable countenance, and 
 upon those with a countenance of mildness and mercy, what 
 sort of a Being must you, in such case, suppose the Lord 
 God to be, who could assume two such different countenances 
 and characters i It is a common doctrine delivered from 
 every pulpit, that all good, truly and properly so called, is 
 from God ; and on the contrary, that all evil, truly and pro- 
 perly so called, is from the devil. In case then any one 
 should receive both good and evil, good from the Lord, and 
 evil from the devil, and embrace both with his will-desires, 
 must he not needs fall under that description of persons, who 
 are neither cold nor hot, but lukewarm, and who are spewed 
 out of the Lord's mouth, according to his words in the Reve- 
 lation, Chap. iii. 15, 16?" Tr. Chr. Rel. 651. 
 
 The fact is, that the Sacred Scriptures are written in 
 some places according to the appearances of truth, and thus 
 adapted to the capacities of children, the ignorant, and the 
 wicked ; and in other places according to the genuine truth, 
 
 q2 lor 
 
124 A VINDICATION OF 
 
 for the more immediate use and benefit of those who are 
 better instructed. An individual, or a church consisting of 
 many individuals, may draw his doctrine either from the one 
 set of truths, or from the other : he cannot from both at the 
 same time, without confounding- all the distinctions of good 
 and evil, of truth and falsehood, and thus producing the luke- 
 warm state above described. If he draw his doctrine, or form 
 his judgment, merely from the appearances of truth in certain 
 parts of the literal sense of the ^yord, he then either with 
 Ephraim feeds on wind," Hos. xii. I; or like one of the sons 
 of the prophets of old, makes " a poitaffe of gourds gathered 
 from a wild vine," with other deleterious herbs, of which 
 whosoever eats, by confirming himself in the gross sentiments 
 thus engendered, will assuredly find there is " death in tha 
 pot" unless, by the advice and assistance of a true prophet, 
 meal (the doctrine of genuine truth) be cast into the pot, in 
 order to render harmless, by true interpretation, those prin- 
 ciples, which would otherwise destroy man's spiritual life : 
 see 2 Kings iv. 38 to 41. But if, on, the other hand, he 
 admit into his understanding, and at the same time into his 
 affections, the genuine truths of the Word, so as to regulate 
 thereby his whole life and conduct, in humble imitation of 
 those virtues and perfections which form the character of his 
 God, in such case he will become as " a noble vine," or as 
 " a goodly cedar, exalted above all the ti-ees of the field, and 
 superior in beauty to any tree in the garden of God," Ezek. 
 xxxi. 5, 8 ; in other words, he will become truly rational, 
 intelligent, and wise. Mr. Pike, and too many others who 
 stand in the situation of ministers of the gospel, have chosen 
 to act the former part ; they have adopted, as the basis of 
 their creed and faith, the system of tnere appearances, to the 
 exclusion and rejection of genuine truth. We need not 
 wonder, therefore, that it is written, " My people are de- 
 stroyed for lack of knowledge : because thou hast rejected 
 knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest 
 to me,'' Hos. iv. 6. 
 
 SECTION 
 
EMANUEL SWKDENBORG's WRITINGS. 123 
 
 SECTION X. 
 
 Redemptio7i, how understood hy the Old Church, 
 and hoiv hy the New. — 2. Angels redeemed, as ivelt 
 as Men. — 3. The whole Angelic Heaven, together 
 ivith the Church on Earth, is before the Lord as 
 a single Man. — 4. Bearing Iniquities not the 
 Removal of them, but a Representation of the 
 Profanation of the Truth of the Word. — 5. An 
 Angel let (not led, as 3Ir. Pike has misrepre- 
 sented the Expression,) into his former Sins. 
 
 1. REDEMPTION, HOW UNDERSTOOD. 
 
 Jl he next subject, on which Mr. Pike takes occasion to 
 quarrel with Baron Swedenborg, is that of redemption ; a 
 subject which appears to have been totally misunderstood by 
 Christians in general, who have supposed, that it consisted 
 merely in the passion of the cross, as an act of atonement 
 for the sins of mankind ; and therefore it is no wonder, that 
 Mr. Pike, like the rest of his brethren, of almost all sects, 
 should take fire on finding this his favourite scheme most 
 effectually overthrown both by reason and by a sound inter- 
 pretation of the Sacred Scriptures. A short view of the faith 
 now so prevalent in the church will be sufficient to shew it's 
 absurdity, and even it's wickedness. But as this cannot be 
 given more clearly, than in the words of Baron Swedenborg", 
 the attention of the reader is called to the following extract 
 from his work, entitled, True Christian Religion. 
 
 " What doctrine doth more abound in the books of the 
 orthodox at this day, or what is more zealously taught and 
 insisted on in the schools of divinity, or more constantly 
 preached and cried up in the pulpit, than this, viz. that God 
 
 the 
 
126 A VINDICATION OF 
 
 the Father being full of wrath against mankind, not only 
 separated them from himself, but also sentenced them to uni- 
 versal damnation, and thereby excommunicated them ? But 
 because he was gracious and merciful, that he persuaded or 
 excited his Son to descend, and take upon himself the deter- 
 mined curse, and thus expiate the wrath of his Father, who 
 might thus be prevailed upon to look with an eye of mercy 
 again upon mankind ; and likewise that this was effected by 
 the Son, who, in taking upon himself the curse pronounced 
 against men, suffered himself to be scourged by the Jews, to 
 be spit uj»oii, and lastly to be crucified as the accursed of God, 
 Deut. xxi. 23; and that the Father was by this means ap- 
 peased, and out of love towards his Son cancelled the sentence . 
 of damnation, but yet only in favour of those for whom the 
 Son would intercede, who was in this respect to be a per- 
 petual Mediator in the presence of the Father. These and 
 the like doctrines are at this day trumpeted forth from the 
 pulpit, and re-echoed from the walls of the temple, as sound 
 is re-echoed in a wood, so that the ears of all present are 
 filled with it. But who, that hath his reason enlightened and 
 purified by the Word, cannot see that God is mercy and 
 clemency itself, because he is love and goodness itself, and 
 that they are his essence ; and consequently that it is a con- 
 tradiction to say, that mercy itself, or goodness itself, can 
 behold man with an angry eye, and sentence him to damna- 
 tion, and still abide in it's divine essence I Such dispositions 
 are never ascribed to a good man, or an angel of heaven, 
 but only to a Avicked man, and a spirit of hell ; wherefore it 
 is blasphemy to ascribe them to God. But if we inquire into 
 the cause of this false judgment, we shall find it to be this, 
 that men have taken it for granted that the passion of the 
 cross was true redemption ; and hence have flowed those 
 other opinions, like so many falses flowing in a continued 
 series from one single false principle, or as from a cask of 
 vinegar nothing but vinegar can come forth, or as from an 
 insane mind we can expect nothing but insanity. For one 
 point being taken for granted, the conclusions that are made 
 
 thereupon 
 
EMANUEL SWEDENBORG S WRITINGS. 127 
 
 thereupon must have relation to it, because they originate in 
 it, and are seveially and successively produced from it ; and 
 from this one point concerning the passion of the cross, as 
 constituting the sum of redemption, many shociiing and im- 
 pious opinions about God may still take rise, and go forth 
 into the world, until that prophecy of Isaiah comes to be ful- 
 filled, viz. " The priest and the prophet have erred through 
 strong drink, they stumble in judgment ; all tables are full 
 of vomit andflihiness" Chap, xxviii. 7, 8. 
 
 " That this idea concerning God, and concerning re- 
 demption, pervades the faith which prevails at this day 
 throughout all Christendom, is an acknowledged truth : for 
 that faith requires, that men pray to God the Father to re- 
 mit their sins for the sake of the cross and blood of his 
 Son ; and to God the Son, that he would pray and intercede 
 for them ; and to God the Holy Ghost, that he would justify 
 and sanctify them: and what is all this but to supplicate 
 three distinct Gods one after another? And, in such a case, 
 how can the notion, which the mind forms of the divine go- 
 vernment, differ from that of an aristocratical or hierarchical 
 government ? or from that of the triumvirate which once ex- 
 isted at Rome, if only instead of triumvirate it be called a 
 triumpersonate I And in such a government what is easier 
 than for the devil to put in practice the old proverb. Divide 
 and rule, that is, to distract men's minds, and excite rebel- 
 lious motions, sometimes against one God, and sometimes 
 against another, as hath been his practice since the time of 
 Arius to this day, and thereby to dethrone the Lord God and 
 Saviour, " who hath all power in heaven and in earth," 
 Matt, xxviii. 18 ; and to exalt some client of his own in the 
 Lord's place, and to worship him, or refuse worship both to 
 him and to the Lord V Tr. Chr. Rel. 132, 133. 
 
 Against such a system of redemption as that above de- 
 scribed, every truly rational man must surely lift up his 
 voice : for in the first place it supposes there are more Divine 
 Beings than one, when yet reason, as well as revelation, spurns 
 the idea ; in the next place it ascribes wrath and a vindic- 
 tive 
 
128 A VINDICATION OF 
 
 tive spirit to one of those Beings, and not to tiie other, 
 though both are said to possess the same essence or nature, 
 which is contradictory and absurd ; and in the third place it 
 represents one of those Beings, called the Son, as oflfering 
 himself a sacrifice in the room of mankind, to pacify his 
 Father's wrath, when yet it is contrary to every principle of 
 justice, both human and divine, that the innocent should 
 suffer for the crimes of the guilty. Nor is it less repugnant 
 to the true sense of the Sacred Scriptures, than to enlight- 
 ened reason ; for in them it is distinctly declared, that there 
 is only one Divine Being, only one God of pure unbounded 
 love, besides whom there is neither Creator, Redeemer, nor 
 Saviour, Isa. xliii. 1, 3, 11, 14, 15. Chap. xliv. 6, 24 ; who 
 never did desire sacrifice and burnt-ofTering, but mercy and 
 obedience, the only sacrifice acceptable to him being " a 
 broken heart." Ps. xl. 6. Ps. li. 16, 17. Kos. vi. 6. Jer. 
 vii. 22, 23. 
 
 Redemption then did not, as is too generally supposed, 
 consist in the mere passion of the cross, nor in the pacifica- 
 tion of divine wrath ; neither is it any where so asserted by 
 our Lord, when he speaks of his sufferings and crucifixion. 
 But being a work purely divine, and effected by the omni- 
 potence of the Saviour while in the Humanity, it consisted 
 in the deliverance of man from spiritual captivity, by the 
 actual subjugation of the powers of darkness, in the orderly 
 arrangement of the heavens, and in the consequent foun- 
 dation of a new church on earth. The subjugation of the 
 powers of darkness is described in these words of the pro- 
 phet, " I have trodden the wine-press alone, and of the 
 people there was none with me : for / will tread them in mine 
 anger, and trample tlvem in my fury, and their blood shall 
 be sprinkled upon my garments, and I will stain all my rai- 
 mfent. For the day of vengeance is in mine heart, and the 
 year of my redeemed is come," Isa. Ixiii. 3, 4. Similar is 
 the descriptioB given in maoay other parts of the Old Testa- 
 ment ; and in the New we read as follows, " Notv is the 
 judgment of this world ; noio shall the prince of this world 
 
 be 
 
EMANUEL SWEDENBORg's WRITINGS. 129 
 
 he cast out/' John xii. 31. " The prince of this world is 
 judffed" John xvi. 11. " I beheld Satan as lig4itning- fall 
 from heaven," Luke x. 18. At the same time new heavens 
 were formed above, and a new earth below, that is, a new 
 church both in the spiritual and in the natural world, wherein, 
 according to prophecy, should dwell righteousness and peace: 
 see Isa. Ixv. 18, &c. Chap. Ixvi. 22, &c. Thus the Lord, 
 when on earth, by acts of redemption, restored that order 
 which had been disturbed by the overwhelming power of evil, 
 and put man again into the capacity of being reformed, re- 
 generated, and finally saved. 
 
 Mr. Pike, after quoting a variety of passages from 
 Baron Swedeuborg to the effect above stated, which he ig- 
 norantly supposes to be in opposition to the Sacred Scrip- 
 tures and the writings of the apostles, says, p. 16, that ac- 
 cording to these latter " Christ died ybr us ;" and that " we 
 have forgiveness of sins through his blood;" by which ex- 
 pressions he understands, that Christ died instead of man, 
 or in his room ; and that, in consideration of the natural blood 
 shed upon the cross, God was induced to be merciful to man, 
 and to forgive his transgressions. This erroneous view of 
 the nature of the Lord's sufferings and death arises, in part, 
 from a complete misapprehension of the terms used, and ap- 
 plying them in a sense never contemplated by the inspired 
 writers. That the Lord laid down his life for the sheej), 
 John x. 15, is indeed true ; but not that he did so in their 
 stead, in the way of a vicarious sacrifice, and for the pur- 
 pose of appeasing the wrath of the Father. And again, that 
 riian is purified and saved through the blood of the Lamb, is 
 equally true ; but not according to the vulgar notion, that 
 the natural blood of an innocent person, shed more than 
 eighteen hundred years ago, or a belief in the history which 
 records that transaction, procured or procures for man the 
 blessings of redemption and salvation. 
 
 Let us examine the subject Avith candour and impar- 
 tiality. To die for or in the room of man, is one thing ; 
 and to die for, on account of or for the sake of him, is 
 
 R another. 
 
130 A VINDICATION OF 
 
 another. The former seuse is that which Mr. Pike and 
 others attach to the word for ; the latter is the true scrip- 
 tural sense of the same expression. When a soldier, who is 
 a true patriot, yields up his life in the field of battle, he is 
 said to die for his countiy, because he dies in defence of, 
 for the sake of, or for the benefit of his country, but surely 
 not instead or in the room of\x\s country. So when the Lord 
 submitted to be crucified, the Scriptures represent him as 
 laying down his life for his people, that is, for their sake, 
 for their benefit and advantage, that entering through suffer- 
 ings and death into his glory, Luke xxiv. 26, he might be 
 for ever in the act of communicating to them all those spi- 
 ritual blessings, which his mercy in becoming incarnate had 
 rendered them capable of enjoying. Hence he says, " I tell 
 you the truth, it is expedient for yon that I go away (by 
 death and resurrection) : for if I go not away, the Comforter 
 will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto 
 you," John xvi. 7. 
 
 Again, when the prophet says, " He was wounded /or 
 our transgressions, he was bruised /or our iniquities ; for the 
 transgression of my people was he stricken ; thou shalt make 
 his soul an offering/or sin," Isa. liii. 5, 8, 10 ; we are not to 
 understand, that he was wounded, bruised, and stricken, in- 
 stead of our transgressions and iniquities, still less that he 
 made his soul an offering in behalf of sin, or in it's favour and 
 support, as the word /or in one of it's senses literally implies, 
 but that he suffered such things by reason of our transgres- 
 sions, and 071 account of our sin. This distinction should be 
 well attended to ; otherwise the most incoherent, irrational, 
 and unscriptural conclusions may be formed respecting the 
 great work of redemption, which was effected by the Lord 
 solely for the sake of benefiting mankind, and not for the 
 purpose of inducing any change in some other Being supe- 
 rior to himself, or of extorting as it were from him an act 
 of grace and mercy towards the human race by the intensity 
 of his suffering, and the urgency of his intercession. 
 
 With 
 
EMANUEL SWEDENBORG S WRITINGS. 131 
 
 With respect to the blood of Christ, or the blood of the 
 Lamb, which has also been so much dwelt upon by solifidians 
 of every name and sect, it is of importance to observe, that 
 the genuine scriptural idea intended to be sug-gested by these 
 expressions is, not natural or material blood, but the divine 
 truth proceeding from the Lord, and contained in his Holy 
 Word. For as " blood is the life of all flesh," Levit. xvii. 
 14, and flesh as such " profiteth nothing," John vi. 63 ; so 
 the blood of Christ, the blood of the Lamb, and the blood of 
 the Son of Man, are expressions used to denote the spiritual 
 and divine life of the Lord, consequently of his Word also, 
 since the words of the Lord, like the Lord himself, " are spirit, 
 truth, and life," John vi. 63. Chap. xiv. 6. It is this spiritual 
 blood, and this alone, that cleanses, purifies, sanctifies, and 
 regenerates. " Sanctify them through thy truth : thy word 
 is truth. And for their sakes I sanctify myself, that they 
 also might be sanctified through the truth,^' John xvii. 17, 
 19. It is the same spiritual blood, in conjunction with the 
 flesh of the Son of Man, which gives eternal life to all who 
 eat and drink thereof. " Except ye eat \\\q flesh of the Son 
 of Man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you. Whoso 
 eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life : for 
 my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed," John 
 vi. 53 to 55. It is again the same spiritual blood, by which 
 redemption and salvation are effected : "Thou hast re- 
 deemed us to God by thy blood, out of every kindred, and 
 tongue, and people, and nation," Apoc. v. 9. " These are 
 they who came out of great tribulation, and have washed 
 their robes, and made them ivhite in the blood of the Lamb," 
 Apoc. vii. 14. " And they overcame the great dragon, that 
 old serpent, called the devil and satan, by the 6/ooc? of the 
 Lamb, and by the ivord of their testimony," Apoc. xii. 11. 
 
 Will Mr. Pike now insist, that the Lord's natural flesh 
 is to be eaten, and his natural blood to be drunk, in order 
 that man may receive eternal life i or that the robes of the 
 saints are literally washed in blood, and that by such a pro- 
 cess they are made white ? As well may he argue in this 
 
 R 2 childish 
 
132 A VINDICATION Of 
 
 childish and trifling way, as contend, when the Scriptures 
 speak of the blood of Christ, or the hlood of the Lamb, 
 whereby man was redeemed and rescued from the power of 
 evil, and by virtue of which he receives tlie forgiveness of 
 his sins, that they mean the material blood which was shed 
 upon the cross, and, in consequence of that circumstance, 
 the pacification of divine wrath. But the whole system of 
 these literalists, materialists, and tri-personalists, is of a 
 piece : it is rotten in it's foundation, and it's superstructure 
 already totters to the fall. How any man of common under- 
 standing can for a moment give countenance to such manifest 
 inconsistencies and absurdities, as are necessarily attendant 
 on the doctrine of a trinity of persons, is indeed matter of 
 astonishment. Three Divine Beings, or three Gods, coeval 
 and co-equal with each other, and at the same time subor- 
 dinate in rank one under another ; of the same essence, mar 
 jesty, and glory, yet possessing different and discordant at- 
 tributes ; the first furious and vindictive, requiring satisfac- 
 tion for his offended honour by no less a penalty than the 
 death of his own Son, in the room of the guilty ; the second 
 merciful, and willing to pay that penalty by the sacrifice of 
 himself; and the third standing by the two former in tlie 
 character of neutrality, or as a mere cypher in the supposed 
 consultation, yet ready to undertake whatever office may be 
 assigned him by the others his companions ; — are positions 
 so monstrous, so disgraceful to the professors of modern 
 Christianity, that it is no wonder the intelligent and wise of 
 all nations, who are exempt from the shackles of a blind and 
 preposterous faith, should treat the bare mention of such 
 paradoxes with all the contempt and scorn, which they so 
 richly deserve. Christianity itself, however, when rightly 
 understood, is by no means chargeable with these insanities, 
 but, on the contrary, is the most rational, consistent, and 
 benign system of religion, that has ever yet appeared among 
 men, requiring only to be fairly represented, and candidly 
 heard, to gain the admiration of every good and virtuous 
 mind. 
 
 2. ANGELS 
 
EMANUEL SWEDENBORG's WRITINGS. 133 
 
 2. ANGELS REDEEMED, AS WELL AS MEN. 
 
 It is further objected, p. 17, that " Swedeuborg asserts, 
 in defiance of the Holy Scriptures, that the Lord not only 
 redeemed men, but angels also." When a writer is charged 
 with holding a doctrine in defiance of the Holy Scriptures, 
 it must reasonably be expected, that abundant and incon- 
 trovertible proof would be adduced from those Scriptures in 
 support of the accusation. But in this respect Mr. Pike has 
 completely failed : he has not brought forward even a single 
 passage from any one of those books, which have been proved, 
 p. ^ to 74, alone to constitute the Word of God ; but has 
 made three quotations from the Apostolic Epistles, which 
 still leave the real question at issue untouched. The first is 
 IJeb. ii. 16, where the apostle, speaking of the Lord's as- 
 sumption of the natural Humanity, says, ** Verily he took 
 not on him the nature of angels, but he took on him the 
 seid of Ahraliam ," by wlxich is clearly understood, that, 
 when the Lord came into the world for the purpose of re- 
 demption, he made his appearance, not as heretofore in the 
 person of an angel, or of a spirit separated from the material 
 body, or, which is still the same, of a deceased man, J udg. 
 xiii. 3, 6, 8 to 21. Dan. viii. 15, 16. Chap. ix. 21. Chap. x. 
 5, 16, 18 ; but in a body of natural fiesh and blood, similar 
 to those of the seed of Abraham, and tribe of Judah. The 
 passage quoted by Mr. Pike, therefore, refers only to the 
 nature of that Humanity which was assumed by the Lord, 
 and not to the extent of the redemption wrought by biiu, 
 much less to the exclusion of deceased men, spirits, or 
 MJgels, from all participation, in the benefit thereof. For, 
 as already demonstrated beyond the shadow a reasonable 
 doubt, p. 38 to 46, it is the unequivocal testimony of the 
 Sacred Scriptures, that angels and men are of one and the 
 same race. And hence it follows, that if redemption were 
 designed as a blessing to all the families of mankind, it must 
 have extended to angels as well as men. This will appear 
 
 the 
 
134 A VINDICATION OF 
 
 the more evident, if it be considered, that the true nature 
 and effect of redemption are not only to deliver from the 
 power of evii, but also to preserve in a state of integrity: 
 and as neither man nor angel of himself possesses the least 
 degree of good, but derives it wholly from the Lord, and 
 is from moment to moment with-held from evil by him alone, 
 it is plain, that the highest angel in heaven, as well as 
 the humblest individual in the church on earth, is and will 
 for ever be in arrears of gratitude to the Saviour and Re- 
 deemer of the world for security from danger, and the full 
 assurance of uninterrupted happiness. Why otherwise would 
 it be written, that " the angels, consisting of ten thousand, 
 times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands, together 
 with the four beasts and the four and twenty elders of the 
 superior heavens, fell down before the throne, and ascribed 
 to the Lamb that was slain power, and riches, and wisdom, 
 and strength, and honour, and glory, and blessing?" Apoc. 
 V. 11, 12. Chap. vii. 11, 12. And why again, on a suppo- 
 sition that redemption was not in the true sense of the word 
 universal, are the angels of Michael, who fought against the 
 dragon and his angels, represented as overcoming him by 
 the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony, 
 Apoc. xii. 7 to 11, if they did not know and feel, that they 
 were indebted to the Lamb, that is, to the Incarnate God, 
 for all the blessings of redemption, salvation, and eternal 
 life? 
 
 The two next quotations are from Peter and Jude ; and 
 as they both contain the same sentiments, they may be re- 
 garded as one. " God spared not the angels that sinned, 
 but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of 
 darkness to be reserved unto judgment," 2 Pet. ii. 4. " The 
 angels, which kept not their first estate, but left their own 
 habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains under dark- 
 ness, unto the judgment of the great day," Jude (>. These 
 two passages have already been considered, p. 40, &c. and 
 proved to relate, not to angels originally created such, and 
 afterwards cast out of heaven, according to the common in- 
 
 terpre- 
 
EMANUEL SWEDENBORG S WRITINGS. 135 
 
 terpretation, but to the men of the Adamic or Most Ancient 
 Church on this earth, who being at one time in high states of 
 intelligence and wisdom, are described in the Word as having 
 within them ihehreath of lives, as being living souls, and dwel- 
 ling in the garden of Eden, as in a heavenly paradise, and 
 thus living a kind of angelic life, Gen. ii. 7, 8 ; but afterwards 
 lapsing into every kind of wickedness, violence, and abomina- 
 tion, Gen. vi. 5, 12, 13. In allusion to their state of inte- 
 grity and perfection, before their fall, they are also compared 
 to angels in these words, " The Lord God said. Behold, the 
 man was {*) as one of us, in knowing good and evil," Gen. 
 iii. 22. The term us in the plural number has no relation 
 whatever to a trinity of persons in the Godhead, but to angels, 
 or " the spirits of just men made perfect," by whose ministry 
 the reformation and regeneration of man are uniformly effect- 
 ed. See what has already been said on this subject from p. 
 97 to 99. 
 
 Were it true, as Mr. Pike and others suppose, that the 
 angels spoken of by Peter and Jude were once pure, etherial 
 beings, destitute of bodily substance, and of course exempt 
 from the iniirmities and frailties that flesh is heir to, how 
 came it to pass, that they should " in like manner as Sodom 
 and Gomorrha, and the cities about theni, give themselves 
 over to fornication, and going after strange flesh V' Jude 7. 
 Are we to suppose, that these angels had the same propen- 
 sities as the sons of God, spoken of in Gen. vi. 2, 4, who 
 " saw the daughters of men, that they were fair, and took 
 
 them 
 
 (*) In the common Bible version this passage is differently rendered, the 
 English translators probably thinking, that the words referred to the then fallen 
 state of man, and not to his prior state of wisdom and integrity : instead there- 
 fore of saying, " the man xoas or has been as one of as," they have said, " the 
 man is become as one of us." But it is very evident, both from the original 
 Hebrew, hayah, and the general tenour of the subject, that the passage ought to 
 be rendered in the corrected form, " the man was as one of us." The words im- 
 mediately following confirm the propriety of this translation ; for with a view to 
 shew the difference between his former and his then present state, it is added, 
 " And now lest he put forth his hand," &c. What is meant by the expression, 
 as on* of us, may be seen explained iu Section vii. p. 97. 
 
1^ A tiNftltAtlON OF 
 
 them wives of all which they chose ? " Or are we not rarthef 
 warranted in considering these descriptions as applicable to 
 man in his degenerate state, and not to any race, whose 
 habitation from their birth was in the skies ? 
 
 From these observations it may be seen, that Mr. Pike 
 has failed to make good his charge against Swedenborg, of 
 maintaining a doctrine opposed to the Sacred Scriptures ; 
 since in conformity with these the Baron plainly teaches, that 
 angels and men are of the same race, having the same facul- 
 ties, and capable of the same enjoyments ; tiiat they are 
 fellow-servants, brethren, and children of the same Parent, 
 who regards them all with an equal eye of benevolence and 
 mercy, having never refused to any one description of his 
 intelligent but fallen creatures what he has liberally granted 
 to another, namely, the opportunity of repentance and amend- 
 ment of life, together with all the aids necessary to promote 
 them ; consequently having never passed by heaveH-born 
 rebels, for the purpose of stooping to redeem a few earth- 
 bom worms. Yet these great truths are denied by Mr. Pike 
 and his Trinitarian friends, who, alike ignorant of the real 
 character of the Supreme Being, and of the true spirit of his 
 Word, concur in representing him as partial in his loves, 
 and unwilling to hold out the sceptre of mercy, when moiSt 
 to be desired, to the first and fairest portion of the work of 
 his hands. For they not only assert, that a great proportion 
 of the angels of heaven fell from their original integrity, and 
 plunged themselves into unspeakable misery, but that their 
 Creator beheld them in this deplorable condition without the 
 least emotion of pity or love ; that he had no bowels of com- 
 passion towards them ; that he never, in conjunction with his 
 Son and the Holy Ghost, proposed oV formed any plan for 
 their redemption and restoration ; and that he willingly ac- 
 quiesced in their everlasting damnation : while, on the other 
 hand, he suffered his anger, which had been excited against 
 fallen man, to be assuaged by the sufferings, death, and in- 
 tercession of a Saviour. According to such doctrine, the 
 angels, who faithfully stood their ground on one trying occa- 
 sion, 
 
EMANUEL SWEDENBORGS WRITINGS. 137 
 
 sion, may yet fall if another occurs: and who knows how 
 soon that may be i May not jealousy spring- up in their minds, 
 when they see the supposed inferior race of man crowned 
 with equal, if not superior, honours with themselves ? May 
 they not in their envy and anger take up the language of the 
 elder brother in the parable, when they hear the music and 
 dancing in their Father's house, on account of the return of 
 their younger brother man, and say to their God, " Lo, these 
 many years do I serve thee, neither transgressed I at any 
 time thy commandments ; and yet thou never gavest me a 
 kid, that T might make merry with my friends : but as soon 
 as this thy son was come, who hath devoured thy living with 
 harlots, thou hast killed for him the fatted calf?" Luke xv. 
 25 to 30. If some of the heavenly host have already been 
 found guilty of treason and rebellion against their King, 
 what security is there, that the rest will not hereafter follow 
 the sad example of their companions, and like them be pre- 
 cipitated into all the depths of misery and despair? Shock- 
 ing as this may appear to a reflecting mind, it is yet no 
 more than what may be justly apprehended, if the doctrine 
 concerning fallen angels be entitled to the credit which it has 
 so generally received. 
 
 How different are the views, which the New Church 
 takes both of the character of her God, and of the dispensa- 
 tions of his love towards all his creatures! Instead of " limit- 
 ing the Holy One of Israel," she incessantly teaches, that 
 " the Lord is gracious, and full of compassion ; that he is 
 ffood to all; and that his tender mercies are over all his 
 works" Ps. cxlv. 8, 9 : consequently that angels are equally 
 the objects of his care and regard with men, and men equally 
 with angels; nay, that being men, angels have all experienced 
 the blessings of salvation ; that not one of their race has been 
 passed by, and left without remedy or hope ; but that all the 
 inhabitants of heaven, as well as all the inhabitants of the 
 earth, without exception, are at this moment in possession of 
 the benefits of redemption, each according to his state of 
 reception, angels in being thereby preserved in their state of 
 
 S integrity, 
 
138 A VINDICATION OF 
 
 integrity, and men in the capacity thereby acquired of being 
 regenerated and finally saved. 
 
 Wheresoever therefore mention is made, in the AYord, 
 of Lucifer, the son of the morning, who fell from heaven, 
 as in Isa. xiv. 12; or in the Apostolic Epistles, of anrjels 
 who kept not their first estate, but were cast down to hell, as 
 in Jude 6, and 2 Pet. ii. 4, we are uniformly to understand, 
 that the passages refer to men of very ancient times, who 
 being at first "perfect in their ways, until iniquity was found 
 in them," Ezek. xxviii. 15, and being afterwards " lifted up 
 in their hearts because of their beauty," ver. 16, at length 
 gave themselves up to every kind of vice and enormity, and 
 became as it were devils incarnate. This is the true scrip- 
 tural account of the fall of angels, while the commonly 
 received opinion is mere poetical fiction, and groundless 
 imagination. 
 
 3. HEAVEN AND THE CHURCH AS ONE MAN. 
 
 Speaking further on the subject of redemption, without 
 which no man could have been saved, nor could the angels 
 have remained in a state of integrity, Swedenborg assigns as 
 a reason for this latter circumstance, that " the whole angelic 
 heaven, together with the church on earth, is before tlie 
 Lord as a single man ; the highest heaven constituting the 
 head ; the second and lowest heaven, the breast and middle 
 region of the body ; the church on earth, the loins and feet ; 
 while the Lord himself is the soul and life of that whole man." 
 And he further adds, that *' the defection of the church on 
 earth may be compared to a mortification in the feet of the 
 natural body, by degrees rising upwards, and infecting the 
 other parts, until in the end it proves fatal." On which Mr. 
 Pike takes occasion to exclaim, p. 17, " Here is childish 
 fiction! What idea can be more absurd, or ni ore unfounded 
 in Scripture or common sense, than this, that the church 
 below and the heavens above are all united in the shape of 
 one vast man ! " 
 
 Childish 
 
EMANUEL SWEDENBORg's WRITINGS. 139 
 
 Childish and absurd as this arrangement of many into 
 one form or body may appear to Mr. Pike, it is precisely that 
 which the apostle Paul has repeatedly pointed out in several 
 of his Epistles : and if the charge of folly and want of com- 
 mon sense be good against one author, it must apply with 
 equal force against another. The church, consisting of many 
 individuals, is thus described by the apostle above named : 
 " We being many are one body in Christ, and every one 
 members one of another" Rom. xii. 5. " Know ye not, that 
 your bodies are the members of Christ ?" 1 Cor. vi. 15. " We 
 being many are one bread, and one body," 1 Cor. x. 17. 
 *' Now ye are the body of Christ, and members in particular," 
 1 Cor. xii. 27. " The gentiles are to be fellow-heirs, and of 
 the same body," Eph. iii. 6. " We are members of his body, 
 of his flesh, and of his bones : this is a great mystery ; but I 
 speak concerning Christ and the church," Eph. v. 30, 32. 
 In various other parts of his Epistles the same apostle writes 
 to the same effect, representing the church at large as one 
 body under a spiritual view, united together, not by con- 
 tiyuity of natural space, or by heaping together the bodies 
 of the individual members into one mass of matter, so as to 
 resemble one gigantic human form, as Mr. Pike seems to 
 understand the expression, but by the uses which each indi- 
 vidual of the church is capable of performing to another, 
 and to the whole, mutually and reciprocally, according to the 
 beautiful and edifying description given in 1 Cor. xii. 1 to 
 end. The same may be said of every nation, kingdom, and 
 society of men, each of which, though consisting of numerous 
 individuals, is yet as to their several offices, functions, and 
 uses, regarded by an intelligent mind as one body, one man, 
 and not unfrequently is so called. 
 
 Similar, but still more expressive and sublime, is the 
 idea, which Baron Swedenborg holds out to his readers, 
 when he informs them, that not only the church on earth, 
 taken in a universal sense, but the angelic heavens also, in 
 conjunction with the church, together constitute, in the sight 
 of the Lord., one spiritual body, one grand man, according 
 
 s2 to 
 
140 A VINDICATION OF 
 
 to the endless variety of uses, which an indefinite number 
 of individuals, separately and collectively considered, are 
 capable of performing to each other. This view of the 
 subject is not only countenanced by the Apostolic Writings, 
 and by the good sense of every intelligent and contemplative 
 man, but what is more, it is in perfect harmony with the 
 Holy Word, which repeatedly presents before us the church, 
 consisting of thousands and tens of thousands, concentrated 
 into one human form, male or female, as the case may be. 
 Thus we read of Judah, Israel, Jacob, Ephraim, Aholah, 
 Aholibah, the daughter of Zion, the daughter of Jerusalem, 
 the angel of the several churches, the bride and wife of the 
 Lamb, &c. &c. ; not to mention a variety of other names and 
 characters, which all set forth the church of the Lord as one 
 aggregate human form, though it consist of perhaps innume- 
 rable distinct individuals. And yet this divine mode of repre- 
 senting many under one form, and one name, is rashly called 
 by Mr. Pike " a childish fiction;" and is branded by him as 
 a ridiculous absurdity, having no foundation whatever either 
 in the Sacred Scriptures, or in common sense!" Let him 
 reflect seriously upon the inconsiderateness of such conduct, 
 to give it no harsher an epithet ; and when he next finds 
 himself disposed to attack an author, whose writings he can 
 form no just estimate of, let him be careful lest, in his zeal 
 to put down a supposed error, he be again found actually 
 fighting- against the Word of divine truth itself. 
 
 4. BEARING INIQUITIES. 
 
 When Swedenborg says, that " by bearing iniquities is 
 not understood the removal of them, but only to represent 
 the profanation of the truths of the Word," Mr. Pike makes 
 the following remark, p. 17: "If bearing iniquities meant 
 the profanation of the truths of the Word, as it is Christ that 
 is thus said to have borne iniquities, it must consequently 
 have been he that profaned the truths of the Word." A more 
 ungenerous and perverse mutilation of an author's words was 
 
 surely 
 
EMANUEL SWEDENBORG's WRITINGS. 141 
 
 surely never before witnessed, or a more palpable proof of 
 incapacity in drawing an inference was never before given 
 by any man professing to have the use of his faculties. *' If 
 (says Mr. Pike) the bearing iniquities meant the profanation 
 of the truths of the Word," &c. But who is it that says so I 
 The words quoted from Swedenborg authorize no such sup- 
 position. He says, "By bearing iniquities is meant to re- 
 present profanation," not that it is itself profanation. Yet 
 Mr. Pike, immediately after giving the true sense of the 
 author, and thereby furnishing his readers with an opportu- 
 nity of detecting his sophism, builds an argument, not on 
 the real words and meaning as quoted even by himself, but 
 on a partial and mutilated view of the passage, as if the 
 author had said, that bearing iniquities was profanation, 
 when at the same time, by the objector's own shewing, he 
 asserted, that it only represented profanation. By such a pro- 
 ceeding Mr. Pike not only grossly injures the writer, whose 
 doctrines he undertakes to comment upon, but actually abuses 
 the confidence, which many of his friends may have put in 
 his candour and impartiality. 
 
 Does the Baron give the least ground for the insinua- 
 tion, that the Lord by bearing iniquities was guilty of pro- 
 faning the truths of the Word ? Mr. Pike himself knows 
 to the contrary : for in the very section, from which he 
 quotes, he must have read, (unless indeed he has only skim- 
 med lightly over the Baron's works, picking here and culling 
 there what he thought might suit his purpose,) that the Jew- 
 ish people, who were in possession of the Holy Word, were 
 the persons who falsified and profaned it's truths ; and that 
 the Lord, wlio suffered them to treat his person with the 
 same contempt and violence, which they had offered to the 
 Word, he himself being the Word, thereby represented, in 
 an external, visible manner, such falsification and profana- 
 tion. In the same section Mr. Pike must also have read, 
 what the author further says of the ancient custom of repre- 
 senting, in the persons of the prophets, the state of their par- 
 ticular churches both with respect to their doctrine and their 
 
 life; 
 
142 A VINDICATION OF 
 
 life ; as that the prophet Isajah was commanded " to loose 
 the sackcloth from oif his loins, and put off his slioes from his 
 feet, and to walk naked and barefoot three years for a sign 
 and a wonder," Isa. xx. 2, 3 : That the prophet Ezekiel was 
 commanded, for the purpose of representing the state of the 
 church, " to prepare him stuiF for removing, and to remove 
 to another place in the sight of the children of Israel, and to 
 bring forth his stuff by day in their sight, and to go forth at 
 even through a hole dug in the wall, and to cover his face 
 that he might not see the ground, and that he might thus 
 be as a sign unto the house of Israel ; and that he should say. 
 Behold ! / am your sign ; like as I have done, so shall it be 
 done unto you," Ezek. xii. 3 to 7, 11 : That the prophet 
 Hosea was commanded, for the like purpose of representing 
 the state of the church, " to take unto himself a wife of 
 whoredoms, by whom he had three children ; and a second 
 time was required to go and love a woman beloved of her 
 friend, yet an adultress, whom he bought for himself," Hos. i. 
 2 to 9. Chap. iii. 1, 2 : That another prophet was enjoined, 
 according to the word of the Lord, " to lay ashes on his face, 
 and suffer himself to be smitten and beaten," 1 Kings xx. 35 
 to 38 : And further, that the prophet Ezekiel was com- 
 manded, in order to represent the state of the church, " to 
 take a tile, and pourtray upon it the city, even Jerusalem, 
 and lay siege against it, and build a fort against it, and cast 
 a mount against it ; also to lie upon his left side, and upon 
 his right side, for a certain number of days," this latter in- 
 junction being thus expressed, " Lie thou upon thy left side, 
 and lay the iniquity of the house of Israel upon it: accord- 
 ing to the number of the days that thou shalt lie upon it, 
 thou shalt bear their iniquity : for I have laid upon thee the 
 years of their iniquity, according to the number of the days, 
 three hundred and ninety days ; so shalt thou hear the ini- 
 quity of the house of Israel. And when thou hast accom- 
 plished them, lie again on thy right side, and ihou shalt 
 bear the iniquity of the house of Jiidah forty days," Ezek. 
 iv. 1 to (i. 
 
 That 
 
EMANUEL SWEDENBORGS WRITINGS. 143 
 
 That the prophets in all these cases represented the 
 state of the church in their day, and thus became visible 
 signs to tlie people of their woful degeneracy, and impending 
 destruction, cannot be denied : and that the prophet Ezekiel 
 in particular bore the iniquities of the house of Israel and 
 the house of Judah, yet did not cancel and remove them, 
 nor expiate and atone for them, but only represented and 
 pointed them out, is plain from what follows in the same 
 chapter, where it is said, that " the staff of bread should 
 be broken in Jerusalem, and that they should consume away 
 for their iniquity,'' ver. 16, 17. The same is understood of 
 the Lord, of whom, as the grand prophet, it is written, 
 " Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows ; 
 Jehovah hath laid on him the iniquities of us all ; by his 
 knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many, for he 
 shall bear their iniquities," Isa. liii. 4, 11. Ey thus bearing 
 the iniquities of the people, at the time of the crucifixion, 
 is therefore not meant, as Baron Swedenborg has well ob- 
 served, that the Lord removed or aljolished them, for they 
 are still too prevalent, but that he represented the profanation 
 of the truths of the Word, of which the Jewish church had 
 been so repeatedly and notoriously guilty. 
 
 5. AN ANGEL LET INTO HIS FORMER SINS. 
 
 We now come to another instance, in the same page, of 
 gross misrepresentation on the part of Mr. Pike, who first 
 gives a false quotation, ascribing to Swedenborg what he 
 never uttered or meant, and then exclaims against him for 
 the sentiment, which Mr. Pike himself had palmed upon him. 
 The words of Swedenborg are as follow : "I once heard a 
 certain person in the last (or lowest) heaven, saying, that he 
 was free from sins, because they were wiped away ; he added, 
 by the blood of Christ: but whereas he was in heaven, and 
 in that error through ignorance, he was let (not led J into his 
 former sins, all which he acknowledged as they returned. In 
 consequence of this discovery he received the new faith, 
 
 which 
 
144 A VINDICATION OF 
 
 which teaches, that every man, and also every angel, is with- 
 held from evils, and preserved in goods by the Lord." Tr. 
 Chr. Kel. G14. 
 
 In quoting a part of this passage, Mr. Pike would have 
 his readers to understand, that the person spoken of, as being 
 in the lowest heaven, is said by Swedenborg to have been 
 led into his former sins ; whereas the author asserts no such 
 thing as that he was led or conducted into a state of evil, but 
 that he was let into his former sins, or permitted to be made 
 sensible of tiiem, for the purpose of convincing him, that 
 they were not, in consequence of the redemption or blood of 
 Christ, wiped away or altogether abolished, as he and many 
 other pious but simple-minded men have supposed. For it 
 is to be observed, that as there are three heavens for the 
 reception of good men of every degree of wisdom and love, 
 so the lowest heaven is provided for such as are in states of 
 simplicity, not having cultivated their mental faculties to 
 the same extent as those have done, who are elevated to the 
 superior heavens ; and therefore we are not to be surprized, 
 that even good spirits in the lower heavens should stand in 
 need of further information and instruction, than what they 
 had acquired when in the world ; since there is every reason 
 to believe, that angels are continually improving in heavenly 
 knowledge, intelligence, and wisdom. And as there is no 
 way so effectual in communicating either to man or angel the 
 necessary knowledge of his own frailties and imperfections, (*) 
 as by suffering or permitting him, on certain occasions, to 
 have sensible experience of them, so it appears highly pro- 
 bable. 
 
 (*) That angels, as well as men, are still subject to frailties and imperfections, 
 is plain from the following passages in Job: " Behold, he put no trust in bis 
 servants, and his angels he charyed with folly," Job iv. 18. " What is waw, that 
 he should be clean? and he who is born of a woman, that he should be righteous? 
 Behold, he putteth no trust in his saints; jea, the heavens are not clean in his sight," 
 Job XV. 14; 15. And that the highest and best of angels, as well as the lowest, 
 still need instruction, and actually receive it from the Word, is further evident 
 from this address of the Psalmist, " Bless Jehovah, ye his angels that excel in 
 strength, that do his commandments, heartening unto the voice of his word," Ps. 
 ciii. 20. 
 
EMANUEL SVVEDENBORG's WRITINGS. 145 
 
 bable, not only from the testimony of Emanuel Swedenborg-, 
 but from the very nature and constitution of the human mind 
 itself, whether inclosed in, or liberated from, a mortal body, 
 that such occasions will at times occur, and consequently that 
 opportunities will be continually afforded for seli-abasement 
 and humiliation, in order that the final purpose of the Lord 
 may be promoted in " drawing all men unto himself," and 
 thereby exalting them to still higher and higher states of 
 happiness and glory. 
 
 All this, however, Mr. Pike calls " trampling on the 
 blood of the Redeemer," being still ignorant of what is really 
 meant in the Scriptures by his blood, or in what consisted 
 the efficacy of his suflerings and death. Vvith Roman- 
 Catholics, and other literalists, he supposes, that the term 
 blood can signify nothing else but blood ; that the shedding 
 thereof was accepted as an atonement for sin ; aiid that the 
 whole scheme of Christian redemption depends solely on the 
 sacrifice of an innocent person in the room of the guilty : 
 each of which propositions has already been shewn to be un- 
 scriptural, and wide of the truth ; while on the other hand 
 it has been clearly proved, that the blood of Christ, whereby 
 the redemption of man was effected, and whereby also he 
 may now be saved, is no other than the Lord's divme truth, 
 being the same as that contained in his Holy Word, which 
 is alone capable of delivering from the power and guilt of 
 sin, of cleansing, purifying, justifying, sanctifying, and thus 
 completing the great work of reformation, regeneration, and 
 salvation. 
 
 SECTION 
 
146 A VINDICATION OF 
 
 SECTION XI. 
 
 1. The Resurrection, how undersloocl hy the Old 
 Church, and how by the New ; proving, that Man 
 rises immediately after Death ivith his spiritual 
 Hody, and not luith his natural or material Body, 
 — 2. The Difficulties and Absurdities attending 
 the Resurrection of the rnaterial Body, with Re- 
 spect to its Identity. — 3. The Doctrine of Paul 
 concerning the Resurrection. 
 
 1. THE RESURRECTION, HOW UNDERSTOOD. 
 
 HE doctrine of the resurrection, as taught by Baron 
 Swedenborg, according to the true sense of the Sacred 
 Scriptures, being widely different from that which is main- 
 tained by the generality of Christians, who on this point have 
 grossly misunderstood the language of divine revelation, Mr. 
 Pike rashly and falsely asserts, p. 18, that Swedenborg 
 " rejects the doctrine of a resurrection." He no where re- 
 jects the true doctrine of the resurrection, but only that 
 crude, indigested, and earthly idea, which Mr. Pike and so 
 many others have formed concerning the resurrection and 
 future state of man. He maintains, that immediately after 
 the death of the material body, which will never be re- 
 assumed, every man rises again as to his spirit, and conti- 
 nues to live as a man in all respects as before ; with this 
 difference, that, instead of a material body, he is then 
 clothed with a spiritual and substantial body, and that all 
 things around him are also spiritual and substantial. This 
 doctrine he confirms by an appeal to those parts of the Sacred 
 Scripture, where reference is made to deceased men, now 
 living in spiritual bodies, resembling in form their former 
 
 material 
 
EMANUEL SWEDENBORG's WRITINGS. 147 
 
 material bodies, but essentially different from them, as spirit 
 is essentially dilferent from matter. 
 
 Mr. Pike, in professing to quote the words ofSweden- 
 borg on the resurrection, has through negligence or inadver- 
 tence transcribed the language of another person, a priest, 
 who is introduced as a speaker in a conversation which took 
 place in the spiritual world. He has also taken occasion, no 
 less than five times in one page, to sneer at the Baron for 
 an expression, not used by him, but by the aforesaid priest, 
 who, after describing a very common opinion of the state of 
 disembodied souls from the beginning of the world, and their 
 anxious expectation of a general judgment yet to come, adds, 
 in the words of some of his own order, " Supposing this to 
 be the state of man after death, is not the life of an ass to 
 be preferred to that of a man?" See Tr. Chr. Rel. 693. 
 The author having been thus misrepresented, and unfairly 
 dealt with by Mr. Pike, it is but just that he should be al- 
 lowed to speak for himself on the subject of man's future 
 state, in order to give the reader an opportunity of forming 
 his own judgment on the comparative merits of the two sys- 
 tems, that adopted by professing Christians in general, and 
 that maintained by Baron Swedenborg. 
 
 " It hath (says he) been generally believed, that man 
 after death is a mere soul, and the common idea concerning 
 such soul hath been, that it is something like ether or air, 
 consequently that it is like the breath which goeth out of a 
 man's body when he dies, in which nevertheless there re- 
 sideth some vital principle. But then it hath been con- 
 ceived, that this vital principle neither hath the faculty of 
 seeing, such as belongeth to the eye, nor of hearing, such 
 as belongeth to the ear, nor of speaking, such as belongeth 
 to the organs of speech ; when nevertheless man after death 
 is as much a man as he was before, and so little changed, 
 that he does not know but he is still living in the former 
 world : for he seeth, heareth, and speaketh, as in the former 
 world ; he walketh, runneth, and sitteth, as in the former 
 world ; he lieth down, sleepeth, and waketh, as in the former 
 
 T 2 world ; 
 
148 A VINDICATION OF 
 
 world ; he eateth and drinketh, as in the former world ; he 
 enjoy eth conjugial delight, as in the former v/orld ; in a word, 
 he is a man in all and every respect. From which circum- 
 stances it is evident, that death is not an extinction but a 
 continuation of life, and consequently that it is only a pas- 
 sage from one state to another. 
 
 *' That man after death is as much a man as he was 
 before, although he is not then apparent to the eyes of the 
 material body, may reasonably be conceived from the angels 
 that appeared to Abraham, Hagar, Gideon, Daniel, and 
 some of the prophets, and also from those that were seen in 
 the Lord's sepulchre, and afterwards frequently by John, as 
 he relateth in the Revelation. But it may still appear more 
 evident from the circumstances respecting the Lord himself, 
 in that he proved himself to be a Man both by the touch, 
 and by eating before his disciples, when nevertheless he be- 
 came invisible to their sight. Who can be so extravagantly 
 absurd as not to acknowledge, that, notwithstanding his 
 being invisible, he was still a Man as before ? The reason 
 why the disciples saw him was, because their spiritual eyes 
 were then opened ; and when that is the case, the things of 
 the spiritual world appear as distinctly as the things of the 
 natural world. The difference between a man in the natural 
 world and a man in the spiritual world is, that the latter 
 man is clothed with a substantial body, but the former with 
 a material body, within which is his substantial body ; and a 
 substantial man seeth a substantial man as clearly and dis- 
 tinctly, as a material man seeth a material man : a substan- 
 tial man, however, cannot see a material man, nor can a 
 material man see a substantial man, by reason of the differ- 
 ence between what is material and what is substantial. 
 
 " In consequence of what I have seen, and been an eye- 
 witness of for many years together, I can assert the following 
 facts relating to the spiritual world ; that there are earths in 
 that world, just as in the natural world, and that there are 
 also plains and valleys, mountains and hills, fountains and 
 rivers; that there are paradises, gardens, groves, and woods; 
 
 that 
 
EMANUEL SWEDENBORGS WRITINGS. 149 
 
 that there are cities, with palaces and houses contained 
 therein ; also that there are writings and books, employments 
 and merchandises ; and that there are gold, silver, and pre- 
 cious stones ; in a word, that there is in the spiritual world 
 all and every thing that is in the natural world, but that in 
 heaven such things are in an infinitely more perfect state. 
 The difference is, that all things, which are seen in the 
 spiritual world, are created in a moment by the Lord, as 
 houses, paradises, meats, and other things ; and that they 
 are created according to a correspondence with the inte- 
 riors of angels and spirits, that is, with their affections and 
 thoughts : whereas all things, that are seen in the natural 
 world, begin to exist and grow from seed." Tr. Clir. Rel. 
 792, 793, 794. 
 
 Such are the views, which Baron Swedenborg gives of 
 the resurrection, and the condition of man in another life. 
 Mr. Pike charges him with denying a resurrection, because 
 he asserts, that it takes immediate ejfect, on the decease of 
 the material body ! But Mr. Pike takes credit to himself 
 for believing a resurrection, and yet puts it off to a distant, 
 indefinite, and unknown period, when the earth is to be 
 destroyed by fire, and consequently when all the material 
 bodies then lying in graves must be consumed with it ! ! 
 Which system now looks most like a denial of the resur- 
 rection, that which assigns to it a specific and swiftly-ap- 
 proaching time, namely, the death of each individual of the 
 human race ; or that which defers it sine die, until the sun, 
 moon, and stars, are fairly worn out, or hurled together in 
 awful confusion upon this little earth ; in other words, until 
 the sky first melts, and then falls I A child may answer the 
 question. The man who believes, or rather affects to be- 
 lieve, in a resurrection of matter, accompanied with such 
 incredible absurdities and impossibilities, a resurrection that 
 was never heard or thought of by any one rational being for 
 the first four thousand years after the supposed time of the 
 creation of the universe, and which for the last fifteen hun- 
 dred years has been daily expected by the ministers and 
 
 slaves 
 
150 A VINDICATION Or 
 
 slaves of the letter, without the least sign or appearance of 
 the accomplishment of such a wild and fantastical theory, 
 must be set down as a deceiver of himself, a deceiver of the 
 people, a false prophet, who runs before he is sent, and 
 libels the Majesty of heaven by impeaching his wisdom in 
 constructing a fabric capable of lasting only a few thousand 
 years. 
 
 Mr. Pike, however, appeals to the Scriptures for a justi- 
 fication of his doctrine, saying, that " they assert with all 
 possible plainness, that that very body which is laid in the 
 grave, and which may for centuries moulder there, shall rise 
 again, in an incorruptible state ; and that whatev er change 
 may pass upon it, it's identity will remain." Now the only 
 passage, which he brings forward from the Divine Word, in 
 proof that it asserts with all possible plainness the resurrection 
 of the material body, is the following: " The hour is coming, 
 in which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice, and 
 shall come forth ; they that have done good, to the resurrec- 
 tion of life ; and they that have done evil, to the resurrection 
 of damnation," John v. 28, 29. He then gives an extract 
 from the 15th chapter of Paul's first Letter to the Corinthians, 
 and refers the reader to the whole chapter. 
 
 That our Lord, in the passage above quoted, did not 
 assert the resurrection of the material body, is plain from his 
 own words in ver. 25, where he says, " The hour is coming, 
 and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son.of 
 God ; and they that hear shall live." Who now were these 
 dead men, that heard the voice of the Son of God, and then, 
 " passing from death to life," became living men? who but 
 such as were heretofore dead in trespasses and sins, dead to 
 the joys and happiness of heaven, and alive only to the vain 
 delights and pleasures of this wicked world ? And what are 
 the graves or sepidchres, out of which men are to come forth, 
 when they are renewed and vivified by the Lord, but those 
 impure, filthy, and sensual principles of the bodily life, which 
 confine man as it were in the chambers of death, and cause 
 him to dwell in the dust of the earth ? In this sense graves 
 
 are 
 
EMANUEL SWEDENBORGS WRITINGS. 151 
 
 are mentioned in Num. xix. IG, 18. Ezek. xxxii. 22 to 26. 
 Chap, xxxvii. 12, 13. Ps. Ixxxviii. 5, 11 ; and in many other 
 places. In the same sense, the Jews, as a rebellious people, 
 are said to remain among the graves, and lodge in the monu- 
 ments, which eat swine s flesh, and broth of abominable 
 things is in their vessels," Isa. Ixv. 4. The man with an 
 unclean spirit is also said "to have his dwelling among the 
 tombs ; and the legion of devils within him, when cast out, 
 were desirous of entering into a herd of swine," Mark v. 2, 
 3, 12 ; which sufficiently manifests their filthy, sensual, and 
 base appetites. The Scribes and Pharisees, being hypo- 
 crites, are themselves compared to whited sepulchres, whicli 
 indeed appear beautiful without, but are within full of </ea</ 
 men's bones, and of all uncleanness ,"" Matt, xxiii. 27. And 
 David says of his enemies, " Their inward part is very 
 wickedness ; their throat is an open sepulchre," Ps. v. 9. 
 From which it appears, that the very bodies of men, so far 
 as they are the receptacles of unclean and fleshly lusts, are 
 considered in the Scriptures as graves, out of which not only 
 the regenerate but the unregenerate also are to come forth 
 at death, the former "to the resurrection of life," and the 
 latter " to the resurrection of damnation." What then 
 becomes of Mr. Pike's assertion, that the resurrection of the 
 material body is " with all possible plainness' insisted upon 
 in the Word, when we see that it is that identical grave, 
 which in due time must yield up the spirits of all men, and 
 from which " many that sleep in the dust of the earth shall 
 awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and 
 everlasting contempt ?" Dan. xii. 2. 
 
 2. DIFFICULTIES AND ABSURDITIES RESPECTING THE 
 IDENTITY OF THE MATERIAL BODY. 
 
 With respect to the identity of the material body, which 
 Mr. Pike says, p. 19, will remain, notwithstanding the 
 many inconceivable changes that may pass upon it, is he 
 aware, that the identical matter, which makes up the body of 
 
 one 
 
162 A VINDICATION OP 
 
 one man, may, and in some cases actually does, form the 
 component parts of another ? and that these two men, thus 
 claiming the same body, may be sentenced, the one to 
 heaven, and the other to hell ? in which case it would be a 
 point of curiosity to ascertain, to which place the poor body, 
 which had been the instrument of good to one, and of evil to 
 the other, was ultimately to be consigned ; since it could not 
 possibly be transferred to both at the same time. Or has he 
 sufficiently considered, that in consequence of the perpetual 
 resolutions of the bodily frame, and of new accessions of 
 matter in the place of former substances, the same man, in 
 the course of his life, may have several bodies in succession 
 one after another, in each of which bodies he may commit 
 acts, for which he must be brought to judgment i Of these 
 several bodies belonging to one and the same individual, 
 which is it that will rise up in the last day ? the body that he 
 had in infancy, in youth, in manhood, or in old age I Again, 
 as the bodies of men are eaten by wild beasts, by fishes, by 
 worms, and by mice ; and as some of these bodies will at the 
 day of the supposed resurrection of matter, be actually prowl- 
 ing in the forest under the form of wild beasts, or skimming 
 the air as birds of prey, or crawling in the grave in the form 
 of worms, or swimming in the waters as so many sharks or 
 pikes, (*) may it not be fairly asked, whether tliese beasts, 
 birds, and fishes, will or will not be called upon to yield up 
 such parts of their frames as are composed of human flesh ? 
 or whether the spirits of resurgent men, now in search of 
 their proper bodies, and indignant at finding them in such 
 base receptacles, dispersed through the earth, air, and sea, 
 -will or will not seize upon their own long-lost property, and 
 
 instantly 
 
 (*) Let not the reader stippose, that any allusion is here made to Mr. Pike, 
 the author of the pamphlet which gave rise to these observations, who by the by 
 has discovered a strong propensity " to devoar the inan-child as soon as it was 
 born," Apoc. xii. 4, that is, the heavenly doctrine of the New Jerusalem : but as 
 sharks in the sea, and pikes in the fresh waters, are distinguished for the rapacity 
 and voracity of their natures, they are here named for the purpose of comprehend- 
 ing every species of fish that will feed on human bodies. 
 
EMANUEL SWEDENBORG's WRITINGS. 153 
 
 instantly metainorphise those brute cannibals into rational 
 beings ? The subject will not bear examination ; it con- 
 tinually recedes at the approach of light, shelters itself in 
 darkness, and at last wraps itself up in the cloak of mystery, 
 omnipotence, and empty wonder I 
 
 3. THE DOCTRINE OF PAUL CONCERNING THE 
 RESURRECTION. 
 
 But let US hear what the apostle Paul has to say on the 
 resurrection ; since his authority appears to be relied on by 
 Mr. Pike and his brethren much more than the Word of God 
 itself. The Socinian Unitarian, Dr. Priestley, was precisely 
 of the same opinion with these Tri-personalists, and like 
 them grounded his objections against the doctrines of the 
 New Church on the words and reasoning of Paul, not under- 
 stood according to their fair interpretation, but according to 
 certain pre-conceived ideas, which are as foreign to the truth, 
 as darkness is to light. The answer, therefore, which was 
 given many years ago to Dr. Priestley, who had anticipated 
 the greater part of Mr. Pike's arguments, and supported 
 them by other passages besides those adduced by the latter 
 gentleman, may not be unacceptable to the reader on the pre- 
 sent occasion. 
 
 " You seem to lay great stress on the account which 
 Paul gives of the resurrection, in 1 Thess. iv. 15 to 17, 
 where he says, " For this we say unto you by the Word of 
 the Lord, that we who are alive and remain unto the coming: 
 of the Lord, shall not prevent them who are asleep. For the 
 Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with 
 the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God ; and 
 the dead in Christ shall rise first. Then we, who are alive 
 and remain, shall be caught up together with them in the 
 clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be 
 with the Lord." But all this may very easily be explained, 
 consistently with the doctrines of the New Church, by con- 
 sidering it as spoken according to the appearances of the 
 
 U literal 
 
154 A VINDICATION OF 
 
 literal sense of the Word, which describes spiritual things 
 by such images and expressions as are accommodated to the 
 apprehension of men in the natural world. We have already 
 seen, that the Lord's second coming- in the clouds of heaven 
 is not to be understood as alluding to the atmospherical clouds 
 over our heads, but to the literal sense of the Word, and to 
 the appearance of clouds in the spiritual world. In this view, 
 the above passage perfectly coincides with our sentiments ; 
 for we maintain, that the new heaven is formed before the 
 new earth ; that is, the New Church takes place in the 
 spiritual world before it does in the natural world ; which 
 agrees with this saying, that the dead in Christ shall rise 
 first. And as the church on earth will be conjoined with the 
 church in heaven, so as together to form only one church, 
 like internal and external, therefore it is said, that we, who 
 are alive and remain, shall be caught up together ivith them 
 i)i the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air ; that is, we shall 
 be enabled, at the Lord's second coming, when the spiritual 
 sense of his Word shall be revealed, to penetrate through 
 the shade and obscurity of the letter, and, discerning the 
 glory of it's inner contents, be elevated into the heat and 
 light of heaven, by virtue of which we shall worship the 
 Lord alone in spirit and in truth, as angels do above. In 
 any other sense, what can be meant by being caught up in 
 the clouds, and meeting the Lord in the air 1 Surely every 
 rational and intelligent person must know, that heaven is no 
 more in or above the clouds, than it is under them ; and that 
 the presence of the Lord is equally as well to be found upon 
 the earth, as in any heights of the air or atmosphere ! 
 
 " Another passage, which you quote as apparently fa- 
 vourable to your hypothesis, is that in 1 Cor. xv. 51, 52, 53, 
 "where the apostle Paul says, " Behold, I shew you a mystery ; 
 we shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a 
 moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump ; for 
 the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incor- 
 ruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible 
 must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on im- 
 mortality." 
 
EMANUEL SWEDENBORG's WRITINGS. 155 
 
 mortality." In whatever sense these words of the. apostle 
 are to be interpreted, they ought at least to be taken in con- 
 nection with the preceding verses of the same chapter. The 
 construction, which I observe you put upon them, is, that 
 the same material body, which is committed to the earth, will 
 rise again, and be made immortal. But this is not the 
 doctrine of Paul ; for he distinguishes between the natural 
 corruptible body which is sown, and the spiritual incorruptible 
 body which is raised. " Thou fool," says he, that which 
 thou sowest, thou sowest not that body that shall 6e," ver. 37. 
 *• There are celestial bodies, and bodies terrestrial" ver. 40. 
 " There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body" 
 ver. 44. " Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood 
 cannot inherit the kingdom of God ; neither doth corruption 
 inherit incorruplion" ver. 50. Hence, I think, we may 
 fairly conclude, that Paul maintained the resurrection of 
 man's spiritual body, and not of his material, earthly, and 
 corruptible body. In agreement with this, then, must the 
 succeeding verses, which you have quoted, be understood. 
 He begins, "Behold, I shew you a mystery;" plainly im- 
 plying, that what he is going to add, is not to be understood 
 literally, but spiritually : for were it to be taken according to 
 the express tenour of the words, there would be no mystery in 
 the case, but a simple prophetic narration. A mystery is 
 something hidden from public view, being under the covering 
 of appearances, which may either be misinterpreted or pro- 
 perly understood, according to the different degrees of illumi- 
 nation which different persons may possess. Paul, in most of 
 his Epistles, writes according to the literal sense of the 
 Word; which indeed could not have been otherwise, inas- 
 much as the genuine spiritual sense was not at that time 
 clearly revealed. Hence the appearance of Calvinism, and 
 the doctrine of justification by faith alone, so visible in various 
 parts of his writings, are by many confirmed as the genuine 
 sentiments of Paul ; when yet it is sufficiently clear from other 
 parts, that he in reality maintained no such doctrines. See 
 1 Cor, xiii. 13; " Now abideth faith, hope, and charity; 
 
 u 2 but 
 
156 A VINDICATION OF 
 
 but the (jreatest of these is charity." This also is the express 
 doctrine of the New Church. But writing as he did accord- 
 ing to the appearances of truth in the letter of Scripture, it 
 is no wonder that he should have been misunderstood by 
 those who penetrated no further. Let us now see what is 
 the real import of his words, agreeably to the true sense of 
 Scripture. To be changed in a moment, in the twinkling of 
 an eye, at the last trump, means nothing else but the certainty 
 of passing from a natural into a spiritual state, at the time of 
 the Lord's second coming ; and this change may take place, 
 according to it's measure, as well with those who are now 
 living, as with those who are already dead. Not that a 
 material body shall be ever converted into a spiritual body, 
 for this is a thing impossible, as being contrary to divine 
 order ; but on the death or removal of the former, together 
 with all the imperfections of it's nature, man will be endowed 
 with a spiritual substantial body, in which he will live for 
 ever, and no more see the corruption of death. 
 
 " Paul," you say, " compares the resurrection of the dead, 
 1 Cor. XV. 36, to the revival of seed that has been put into 
 the ground ; and we read, Rev. xx. 13, of the sea giving up 
 it's dead. But according to you, nothing that is ever com- 
 mitted to the ground, or to the sea, will appear again, or 
 any thing else in the place of it." With respect to the revival 
 of seed that has been put into the ground, it is well known, 
 that it is not the same gross earthy substance of the seed, 
 which grows up in the form of a new plant or tree, but only 
 the spirit within it, which accumulates fresh matter from 
 the juices of the soil in which it is sown. Hence Paul, in 
 the very next verse to that which you mention, says, " And 
 that which thou sowest, thou sowest not that body which 
 shall be, but bare grain, it may chance of wheat, or of some 
 other grain." This is a true emblem of man's resurrection ; 
 the material body, which is laid in the grave, forms no part 
 of that spiritual and substantial body, with which man rises ; 
 but the spirit, which is within the material body, quits it after 
 death, and then man lives as a man in all respects as before, 
 
 only 
 
EMANUEL SWEDENBORGS WRITINGS. 157^ 
 
 only in a more perfect state, in consequence of being dis- 
 encumbered of the gross body of clay. You therefore do 
 justice to the members of the New Church, when you report 
 as their belief, that " nothing that is ever committed to the 
 ground, or to the sea, will ever appear again:" but you by 
 no means do justice to their sentiments, when you represent 
 them as holding, that " nothing else is to appear in the place 
 of it." 
 
 '* As to the passage in Apoc. xx. 13, where it is said, 
 that the sea gave up the dead which were in it, it has no 
 respect whatever to the sea in the natural world, or to the 
 idead bodies which have been there consigned. This indeed 
 may appear even from the circumstance, that no notice is 
 taken of the bodies which have been committed to the earth, 
 although the number of these latter immensely exceeds that 
 of the former, comprising in fact the general bulk of man- 
 kind. But it is still more plain from the words immediately 
 following those above quoted, viz. " And death and hell 
 delivered up the dead which were in them." And again, 
 ver. 14, " Death and hell were cast into the lake of fire." 
 If we take these last words in their mere literal sense, we shall 
 be under the necessity of supposing, thai hell shall he cast into 
 hell, which is a manifest absurdity. And if hell deliver up 
 the dead, in order to present them before the judgment-seat, 
 it will follow, that some men are consigned to hell, immedi- 
 ately on their death, not only before sentence of condemna- 
 tion is passed upon them, but even before they are arraigned 
 at the bar, and tried ; which is utterly inconsistent with every 
 principle of justice, wJiether human or divine. This doc- 
 trine, moreover, is particularly unfavourable to the scheme 
 which you have adopted, respecting the state of souls after 
 the death of the body ; for you suppose, that then the life of 
 man becomes extinct, and that he neither goes to heaven 
 nor to hell, until the arrival of a certain grand but awfi^l 
 day, usually called the end of the world, and day of judg- 
 jment, when souls and bodies are to be re-united, and for 
 
 the 
 
158 A VINDICATION OF 
 
 the first time eitlier raised to heaven, or thrust down into 
 hell. (*) 
 
 " That man, however, rises again immediately after death, 
 is evident from many passages in the Word, particularly the 
 following : ** Jesus said to the thief on the cross. Verily I 
 say unto thee, To-day shalt thou be with me in paradise," 
 Luke xxiii. 43. The same also appears from what the Lord 
 said concerning Dives and Lazarus, that Dives went to hell, 
 and thence conversed with Abraham ; and that Lazarus went 
 to heaven; and all this while men were still living in the 
 world, consequently before what is generally understood by 
 the day of judgment : for when Dives intreated Abraham to 
 send Lazarus from the dead to warn his brethren, Abraham 
 answered, " If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither 
 will they be persuaded though one rose from the dead" Luke 
 xvi. 31. It is further written, " I am the God of Abraham, 
 and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. God is not 
 the God of the dead, but of the living," Matt. xxii. 32. 
 Hence it appears, that Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, not- 
 withstanding the death of their bodies, are still alive. The 
 angel likewise said unto John, who fell down to worship him, 
 <' I am thy felloiv-servant, and of thy brethren the prophets," 
 Apoc. xix. 10. Chap. xxii. 9 : a demonstrative proof this, 
 Tiot only that man lives as a man after death, prior to the 
 
 general 
 
 (* ) It is to be noted here, that tlie Trinitarians differ from the Unitarians on this 
 subject ; and, instead of maintaining with Dr. Priestley, to whom the above was ad- 
 dressed, t\iat the soul and body both sleep together in death, and that the life of each 
 will continue dormant or extinct until the last day, they are rather disposed to believe, 
 that departed souls float about the atmosphere as so many shades, vapours, exhala- 
 tions, or puffs of wind, without any thing human or substantial about them. " How 
 (say they) can a mere soul see, if it has no eye ? how can it bear, if it has no ear? 
 i)T how can it speak, wall^, eat, drink, or perform any other function proper to a 
 man, since it is deprived of that material frame, and those bodily organs, whereby 
 alone such acts can be done?" Thus, instead of considering the soul or spirit of 
 a man to be the real man himself, they regard it as a kind of etherial or vital prin- 
 ciple, without shape or substance, annexed to the body ; when in fact the material 
 bo(iy is merely a kind of appendage to the spirit, and that only for a very short 
 season, to enable it to perform the various uses and duties of natural life. 
 
EMANUEL SWEDENBORGS WRITINGS. 159 
 
 general judgment, but also that angels are of the human race, 
 being no other than deceased men. So again, when Jesus 
 was transfigured before Peter, James, and John, there ap- 
 peared unto them " Moses and Elias talking with him," Matt, 
 xvii. 3. And in the Acts of the Apostles, chap. x. 30, Cor- 
 nelius said, I prayed in my house, and behold, a man stood 
 before me in bright clothing ;" which same man is called an 
 angel oiGoA, ver. 3, 7, 22. 
 
 " When a proposition is clearly proved, it is unnecessary 
 to urge further arguments on the same subject. I shall 
 therefore conclude my remarks on the resurrection, by briefly 
 shewing who are the persons meant by the living, and who 
 by the dead, that are to be judged at the last day ; for I 
 observe you all along take the account of the judgment ac- 
 cording to the first and lowest sense of the words, when yet, 
 to be truly rational in our conceptions, we ought to elevate 
 our minds to their highest sense, and thus from the letter 
 ascend to the spirit. All who die in a state of regeneration, 
 are in the language of Scripture called living men ; but all 
 who depart in an unregenerate state, are termed dead. Both 
 descriptions of men will be judged ; the former, as having 
 the spirit of true life within them, to life eternal; but the 
 latter, as being destitute of that life, to death eternal : life 
 eternal is the life of angels in heaven ; but death eternal is 
 the life of devils in hell. The Lord alone knoweth the true 
 state of every man ; therefore the Lord alone is the judge of 
 every man ; and he will give to every one according to his 
 works, whether they have been good or bad. This is what 
 is meant by judging the living and the dead, good and evil 
 being the only proper distinction between life and death, as 
 invariably set forth in the Word of God." (*) 
 
 (*) See Lettirs to Dr. Priestley, p. 327 to 337. 
 
 SECTION 
 
l60 A VINDICATION OF 
 
 SECTION XII. 
 
 The absurd and ridiculous Notions^ which prevail 
 concerning the Last Judgment. — 2. The State of 
 Man ajter Death. — 3. The true scriptural Doc- 
 trine of the Last Judgment ; shewing, that the 
 Judgment predicted in the Gospels, and in the 
 Apocalypse, is already accomplished in the spi- 
 ritual World. — 4. The particular Judgment of In- 
 dividuals after Death. — 5. The supposed Destruc- 
 tion of the Heavens and the Earth by Fire, a gross 
 Error, arising from Ignorance of the Meaning of 
 the Term Fire, as used in the Sacred Scriptures. 
 
 1. PREVAILING ERRORS CONCERNING THE LAST 
 JUDGMENT. 
 
 ItXR. Pike, p. 20, next charges Swedenborg with denying 
 a general judgment, which is to be accompanied with the 
 destruction of the visible heavens and the habitable earth. 
 But as he does not by any means give a fair account of what 
 that enlightened author has written on the subject, it may 
 be expedient to state not only his views, but the opinions 
 commonly entertained concerning the last day ; as by con- 
 trasting the one side with the other, the unprejudiced reader 
 will be the better enabled to discover the truth. 
 
 '* The prevailing opinion at this day in all churches is, 
 that the Lord, when he shall come to the last judgment, is 
 to appear in the clouds of heaven with angels, and the sound 
 of trumpets, and to gather together all who dwell on the 
 earth, and at the same time all that ever died, and to sepa- 
 rate the evil from the good, as a shepherd separateth the 
 
 goats 
 
EMANUEL SWEDENBORGS WRITINGS. 161 
 
 goats from tlie sheep ; and that then he will cast the evil, or 
 the goats, into hell, and raise up the good, or the sheep, 
 into heaven : And further, that he will at the same time 
 create a new visible heaven, and a new habitable earth, and 
 on this new earth will make to descend a city, which is to be 
 called the New Jerusalem, and is to be built according: to 
 the description given in the Revelation, chap. xxi. viz. of 
 jasper and gold, and the foundations of it's walls to be of 
 every precious stone, and it's height, breadth, and length 
 equal, each twelve thousand furlongs ; and that the elect are 
 to be gathered together into this city, as well those that are 
 alive, as those that have died since the creation of the world ; 
 and that the latter will then return into their bodies, and 
 enjoy everlasting bliss in that magnificent city, as in their 
 heaven. This is the prevailing opinion at this day, in all 
 Christian churches, concerning the coming of the Lord, and 
 the last judgment. 
 
 " In regard to the state of souls after death, both gene- 
 rally and particularly, the common belief at this day is, that 
 human souls are mere airy beings, of which it is impossible 
 to form any idea but as of a vapour or exhalation ; and that 
 in consequence of this their state and nature, they are re- 
 served to the day of the last judgment, either in the middle 
 of the earth, or in the limhus (*) of the ancient fathers. But 
 on this point there are various opinions : some suppose, that 
 they are etherial or aerial forms, and thus that they are like 
 ghosts and spectres, and that certain of them dwell in the air, 
 others in woods, and others in waters. Some again suppose, 
 that the souls of the deceased are translated to the planets, 
 or to the stars, and have abodes allotted them therein : and 
 
 some 
 
 ( * ) A place iu the spiritaal world just over and contiguous to the hells, was 
 called by the ancient fathers limhus, meaning that it was the margin or frontier of 
 the hells. The Roman Catholics consider it the place, where the deceased patri- 
 archs resided till the coming of our Saviour; and also where they go, who die with- 
 out baptism. From this is derived the phrase in Umbo, to denote a state of impri- 
 sonment. 
 
16*2 A VINDICATION OF 
 
 some again, that after a thousand years they return back into 
 material bodies. But the general notion is, that they are 
 reserved till the time, when the whole firmament, together 
 with the terraqueous globe, shall be destroyed ; and that this 
 will be effected by fire, either bursting from the center of the 
 earth, or cast down from heaven as a general blaze of light- 
 ning; and that then the graves will be opened, and the souls 
 that were reserved will be clothed again with their bodies, 
 some in a lower region, some in a higher, because the height 
 of the citv is to be twelve thousand furlongs, like it's length 
 and breadth, Apoc. xxi. 16. 
 
 " When a clergyman or layman is asked, whether he 
 firmly believes all these things, as that the antediluvians, 
 together with Adam and Eve, and the post-diluvians, toge- 
 ther with Noah and his sons, and also that Abraham, Isaac, 
 and Jacob, together with all the prophets and apostles, in 
 like manner as the soulis of all other men, are still reserved 
 in the middle parts of the earth, or flying about in the ether 
 or air ; and also whether he believes, that their souls will be 
 again clothed with their bodies, and enter into connection 
 again with carcases eaten by worms, by mice, by fish, or (as 
 in the case of Egyptian mummies) by men, and with skele- 
 tons parched in the sun, and reduced to powder ; if clergy- 
 men or laymen, I say, be asked whether they believe all this, 
 or whether such conceits are not mere paradoxes, which like 
 all other contradictory notions are dispelled and dissipated by 
 right reason, some of them make no reply to such questions ; 
 some insist, that such points are matters of faith, and that 
 the understanding ought to be kept in obedience thereto; 
 some again argue, that not only these things, but also many 
 others, which are above the comprehension of reason, are of 
 the divine omnipotence ; and when they mention faith and 
 omnipotence, sound reason is set aside, and either disap- 
 pears like a thing annihilated, or becometh like a spectre, 
 and is called a thing unsound. To this they add. Are not 
 such things agreeable to the Word I and ought not that to 
 
 be 
 
EMANUEL SWEDENBORG's WRITINGS. 163 
 
 De the rule and measure of whatever we think or speak?" 
 Tr. Ckr. Rel. 708, 769, 770. 
 
 Such appears to be the commonly received opinion con- 
 cerning- the state of man after death, and the last day, when 
 the universe, though the workmanship of consummate wis- 
 dom, is expected to be burnt up, and destroyed by the same 
 Omnipotent Hand that brought it into existence. Let us 
 now see the contrast of this sad and dismal picture in the lan- 
 guage of soberness and truth, as drawn by the same author, 
 Emanuel Swedenborg. 
 
 2. THE STATE OF MAN AFTER DEATH. 
 
 " The Word, as to the letter, is written according to ap- 
 pearances and correspondences, and therefore there is a spi- 
 ritual sense contained in every part of it, in which sense 
 truth appears in it's own proper light, whilst the sense of the 
 letter is in a kind of shade. Wherefore lest the members of 
 the New Church, like those of the Old, should wander in the 
 shade of the literal sense of the Word, particularly in regard 
 to heaven and hell, and to a life after death, and to the 
 coming of the Lord, it hath pleased the Lord to open my 
 spiritual sight, and thereby to let me into the spiritual world, 
 and not only to converse with spirits and angels, and with 
 my relations and friends, nay, with kings and princes, who 
 have departed out of the natural world, but also to see the 
 stupendous things of heaven, and the miserable scenes of 
 hell, and thus to be convinced that man doth not live after 
 death in any hidden caverns of the earth, or fly about blind 
 and dumb in air, or in an empty void, but that he liveth 
 as a man in a substantial body, and in a much more perfect 
 state if he goeth among the blessed, than he lived before in 
 a material body. To prevent therefore man's plunging him- 
 self deeper into a false opinion concerning the destruction of 
 the visible heaven and the habitable earth, and thereby con- 
 cerning the spiritual world, in consequence of that ignorance 
 
 X 2 wliich 
 
164 A VINDICATION OF 
 
 which at this day is the true source of naturalism and athe- 
 ism, and to prevent such naturalism and atheism from spread- 
 ing- and affecting man's external mind, wherein his speech 
 originates, as they have begun to afi'ect and to take root in 
 the rational mind, especially amongst the learned, the Lord 
 hath enjoined me to publish some of the various things that I 
 have seen and heard, as well in relation to heaven and hell, 
 as to the last judgment ; and also to unfold the Apocalypse, 
 which treats of the Lord's coming, and of the former heaven, 
 and of the New Church, and of the Holy Jerusalem ; from 
 the reading and understanding whereof every one may see 
 what is there meant by the coming of the Lord, and by the 
 New Heaven, and by the New Jerusalem." Tr. Chr, Rel. 
 771. 
 
 3. THE TRUE SCRIPTURAL DOCTRINE OF THE LAST 
 JUDGMENT. 
 
 The same author, writing particularly on the subject of 
 the last judgment, has clearly shewn from the Sacred Scrip- 
 tures, that several judgments have taken place since the crea- 
 tion ; and that they were each accomplished in the spiritual 
 world, where men are collected together, at the close of their 
 respective churches. He also in the most solemn manner 
 declares, that the judgment predicted in the Gospels, and in 
 the Apocalypse, was actually performed in the year 1757, he 
 being an eye-witness of the same. See Last Judg. 45, 46. 
 Tr. Chr. Rel. 115, 772. But that such an assertion may not 
 pass unheeded, or be set down as a proof of a deluded mind, 
 let the following considerations (chiefly extracted from the 
 author's Letters to Dr. Priestley) be carefully attended to, 
 and the reader will find good reason to pause before he pro- 
 nounces a rash or unfavourable opinion ; since the events, 
 which are now taking place in the moral world, must owe 
 their origin to an adequate cause, and that cause must be a 
 spiritual one, because all effects in the natural world are pro- 
 duced from causes in the spiritual world. 
 
 The 
 
EMANUEL SWEDENRORG's WRITINGS. 1(35 
 
 The great change that took place at the time of the 
 Lord's first coming, consisted not so much in the adoption of 
 any new external forms of worship, as in a new capocify men 
 received for understanding- the interior things of heaven and 
 the church. Every thing- before was typical or representa- 
 tive ; but when He came, of whom all the Scriptures testify, 
 and to whom they all referred, then the whole cloud of sha- 
 dows and representatives, that veiled the light of the sun, 
 disappeared, and the minds of men received new illumina 
 tion, as it is written, " The people, that walked in darkness, 
 have seen a great light ; they that dwell in the shadow of 
 death, upon them hath the light shined," Isa. ix. 2. 
 
 A similar change has taken place iu the minds of men 
 since the year 1757, the period when (according to Baron 
 Swedenborg) spiritual liberty was restored by the accomplish- 
 ment of the last judgment in the spiritual world. And it 
 may even be seen in the evident decline of ecclesiastical 
 power, particularly in Roman Catholic countries. It may be 
 seen in the general spirit of free inquiry that now pervades 
 the world; in the comparatively timid proceedings of the 
 inquisition, in those countries where it is not yet abolished ; 
 in the suppression of monasteries ; in the pope's silent and 
 humble resignation of those more than regal powers, which 
 his predecessors had usurped and impiously exercised over 
 kings and princes ; in the benevolent exertions of the friends 
 of humanity for the abolition of slavery ; in the new and suc- 
 cessful institutions for the gradual instruction and reformation 
 of the poor ; in the improved regulations of prisons, and 
 numerous other instances of national police ; in the humane 
 societies formed for the recovery of persons apparently dead ; 
 in the extraordinary and indeed astonishing discoveries lately 
 made in almost every science and useful art ; in the voluntary 
 associations of men of all sects and parties for the purpose of 
 circulating and disseminating through the world, without 
 note or comment, the Sacred Scriptures of divine truth in all 
 languages ; and, lastly, it may be seen plainly and decidedly 
 in the actual commencement of the New Church, called the 
 
 New 
 
16(3 A VINDICATION OF 
 
 New Jerusalem, whose members require no miracles to con- 
 vince them of truth, being in possession of what is a thousand 
 times more excellent and satisfactory, namely, the true inter- 
 pretation of the Scriptures, supported by clear and rational 
 evidence. A community of this kind, rising- up in the present 
 day, and spreading- itself over the face of the whole earth, is 
 the most undeniable proof of Baron Swedenborg's assertions 
 concerning the new light and liberty that has risen on man- 
 kind ; for being a matter of fact, it bears down by it's own 
 weight ten thousand arguments of opposition. 
 
 But exclusive of these reasons for believing, that the 
 judgment, spoken of in the Scriptures, is already accom- 
 plished, there are others of considerable weight, amounting 
 to little less than a kind of demonstrative proof. AVhen 
 mention is made of the last judgment in the Word of God, it 
 is generally represented as an event, which is to be succeeded 
 by an extraordinary degree of illumination, and knowledge 
 of divine things, vouchsafed to the human mind, by means 
 of a new revelation. Thus the coming of the Son of Man is 
 compared to " lig]it7iing shining out of the east,'^ Matt. xxiv. 
 27. After the judgment of the great whore, John says, " I 
 saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse : and he that 
 sat upon him was called the Word of God,'' Apoc. xix, 11, 
 13; evidently alluding to the understanding of the spiritual 
 sense of the Sacred Scriptures, which was to take place after 
 the judgment. The same is further described in chap. xxi. 
 by the new heaven and the new earth, and the holy city New 
 Jerusalem coming down from God out of heaven : which 
 event, as it is now taking place, is a full proof, that the last 
 judgment, according to the Scriptures, has been already per- 
 formed, the one coming to pass as the certain consequence of 
 the other. 
 
 By the Scriptures we are informed, that several general 
 judgments have taken place, prior to that of which we are 
 now speaking, and which is stated to have been accomplished 
 in the spiiitual world in the year 1757. The first was the 
 last judgment of the Most Ancient Church, when all charity 
 
 and 
 
EMANUEL SWEDENBORGS WRITINGS. 167 
 
 and faith perished, and which is described in Genesis by the 
 flood. At that time, according to the language of tlie Sacred 
 Scriptures, heaven and eai'th passed away, in other words, 
 the internals and externals of the church perished, and a new 
 heaven and a new earth were created, that is, a new church, 
 which succeeded the former, and may be called the Ancient 
 Church. The last judgment of this second general church, 
 which included many particular churches, was when it came 
 to it's consummation by the many idolatries, to which it gave 
 birth. Immediately after this was raised up the Represen- 
 tative of a Church among the posterity of Jacob ; the last 
 judgment upon which, and upon the remains of former 
 churches, took place at the time of the Lord's first coniins- 
 into the world. The prophet Isaiah speaks of this judgment, 
 to be accomplished by the Lord, in the following terms : 
 " Who is this that conieth from Edom, with dyed garments 
 from Bozrah, travelling in the greatness of his strength ? I 
 that speak in righteousness, mighty to save. I have trodden 
 the wine-press alone : I will tread them in mine anger, and 
 trample them in iny fury ; and their blood shall be sprinkled 
 upon my garments, and I will stain all my raiment. For the 
 day of vengeance is in my heart, and the year of my redeemed 
 is come," Isa. Ixiii. I, 3, 4. Hence it appears, that judg- 
 ment and redemption commence at the same time. 
 
 The Lord himself also, when he was in the act of fulfil- 
 ling the ancient prophecies, and executing the judgment, 
 says, *' Now is the judgment of this world; now shall the 
 prince of this world he cast out" John xii. 31. Again, 
 " For judgment I am come into this world," John ix, 39. 
 In another place, " Verily verily I say unto you. The hour is 
 coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of 
 the Son of God ; and they that hear shall live. For as the 
 Father hath life in himself, so hath he given to the Son to 
 have life in himself; and hath given him authority to execute 
 judgment also, because he is the Son of Man," John v. 25, 
 26, 27. And again, " Be of good cheer, / have overcome 
 the world," John xvi. 33. 
 
 From 
 
168 A VINDICATION OF 
 
 From these and similar passages it is evideut, that it 
 day of judgment is not spoken of in the Sci'iptm*es, as an 
 event which has never yet in any former period taken place, 
 or as decisive of the fate of every individual of the human 
 race; for we find, that the Lord, when on earth, actually 
 accomplished a judgment, not upon the whole race of man- 
 kind, but only upon a certain number of those who were 
 deceased, and consequently in the spiritual world. 
 
 That the habitable earth was not to be destroyed at the~ 
 time of the last judgment, is plain from the Lord's words in 
 Luke, " I tell you, in that night there shall be two men iu 
 one bed ; the one shall be taken, and the other shall he left. 
 Two women shall be grinding together ; the one shall be 
 taken, and the oilier left. Two men shall be in the field ; 
 the one shall be taken, and the other left," Luke xvii. 34 to 
 30. Here the last time of the church is called night, because 
 there is no genuine faith or truth remaining, in consequence 
 of there being no true spiritual charity : but that the world 
 would not then be destroyed, is plainly declared by the cir- 
 cumstance of some being left, while others are removed. 
 The same doctrine may be confirmed from the following 
 passages: "Jehovah built his sanctuary like high palaces, 
 like the earth which he hath established for ever" Ps. Ixxviii. 
 69. " Thou hast established the earth, and it abideth," Ps. 
 cxix. 90. " One generation passeth away, and another gene- 
 ration Cometh: but the earth ahideth for ever" Eccles. i. 4. 
 
 These considerations suflficiently prove, that the doctrine 
 of the New Church, respecting the last judgment and the 
 second advent of the Lord, is perfectly consistent with the 
 Word of God ; while all those systems, which suppose the 
 destruction of the universe as the necessary consequence of 
 that event, can be considered in no other light, than as so 
 many idle dreams, and dreadful chimeras, calculated to 
 frighten mankind, and to inspire them with no one useful or 
 rational sentiment, but on the contrary with dismal expecta- 
 tion and useless alarm. 
 
 The 
 
EMANUEL SWEDENBORg's WRITINGS. 169 
 
 The end of creation is the formation of an angelic heaven 
 out of the human race, which, as an image of the Creator, 
 may bear some respect to his infinity, his immensity, and his 
 eternity. But this respect to infinity, immensity, and eternity, 
 would cease, were the habitable earth to be destroyed at the 
 day of the last judgment : for then by a period being put to 
 the procreations of mankind, the extent of heaven, together 
 with the number of it's inhabitants, would be limited. Whereas 
 it is highly reasonable to suppose, that, as the human mind, 
 which is a heaven in it's smallest form, increases in perfection 
 according to the plurality of it's knowledges, so the angelic 
 heaven will likewise advance in perfection, and thus more 
 and more resemble it's Creator, according to the perpetually 
 increasing number of it's inhabitants. Hence the doctrines, 
 which ascribe to the Divine Being an end worthy of himself 
 in the creation of the world, by making provision for the per- 
 petual generations and eternal successions of mankind, must 
 be the most rational in themselves, as well as most con- 
 formable to divine revelation, when properly understood, 
 
 4. THE PARTICULAR JUDGMENT OF INDIVIDUALS AFTER 
 
 DEATH. 
 
 It may be supposed, and indeed has been charged upon 
 the members of the New Church, that, according to their 
 views, since the last judgment is already past, no future 
 judgment is now to be looked for. But this is not a true 
 representation of their belief: for though they give full credit 
 to what Baron Swedenborg asserts with respect to the last 
 general judgment, spoken of in the Gospels and the Apoca- 
 lypse, wliich was executed in the spiritual world in the year 
 1757, yet they are well assured by the testimony of the 
 Scriptures throughout, that every man in particular will be 
 judged immediately after death, and that he will then be 
 rewarded according to the deeds done in the body, whether 
 they have been good or evil. The last judgment they con- 
 sider to be of various signification, general, particular, and 
 
 Y singular ; 
 
170 A VINDICATION OF 
 
 singular ; general, as having respect to the end of a church ; 
 particular, in reference to the Heath of individuals ; and 
 singular, so far as the future state of man is to be determined 
 by every thought and affection, every word and work of his 
 past life. (*) 
 
 General judgments, as already observed, have frequently 
 taken pkce, and always at the end of the several churches, 
 which have heretofore existed. These judgments are also 
 described in different parts of the Sacred Scriptures. Bat 
 as the New Church, now establishing by the Lord, is to be 
 the crown of all churches, and to endure for ages of ages, 
 there is reason to believe, that the judgments hereafter will 
 be particular, and not general ; since those who have made 
 an external profession of religion, without living uprightly 
 and conscientiously according to it's precepts, are no longer 
 suffered, as before, to congregate in large bodies in the spi- 
 ritual world, to mix in society with the truly pious, like goats 
 among sheep, nor to affect a heavenly state and dominion, as 
 others did, who formed the first heaven and the first earth, 
 which passed away, Apoc. xx. 11. Chap. xxi. 1. 
 
 5. THE SUPPOSED DESTRUCTION OF THE HEAVENS AND 
 THE EARTH BY FIRE, A GROSS ERROR. 
 
 It was observed above, that the visible heavens and the 
 habitable earth are not to be destroyed at the time of the last 
 judgment, neither the first nor the second coming of the 
 Lord being for any such purpose. What then, it may be 
 asked, is to be understood by those passages in the Apostolic 
 Epistles, which seem to intimate, that, as the old world, 
 perished by water, so the present frame of creation is to be 
 consumed by fire I The following are quoted by Mr. Pike, 
 p. 20, and he no doubt thinks them unanswerable. " The 
 heavens and tlie earth, which are now, are reserved unto fire 
 against the day of judgment. The day of the Lord will come 
 
 as 
 
 (*) See Utters to Br. Priesthy, p. 315. 
 
EMANUEL SWE»ENBORG's WRITINGS. 171 
 
 ;as a thief in the night ; in which the heavens being on fire shall 
 be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat ; 
 the earth also, and the works that are therein, shall be burnt 
 up. Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what 
 manner of persons ought ye to be?" 2 Pet. iii. 7, 10, 11. 
 A passage from the Word, though not adduced by Mr. Pike, 
 is also thought by many to countenance the same idea. The 
 prophet says, " Behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as 
 an oven, and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, 
 shall be as stubble, and the day that cometh shall burn them 
 up, saith Jehovah of hosts," Mai. iv. 1. On these and 
 perhaps a few other examples of the ancient mode of de- 
 scribing spiritual and moral events, are founded all those 
 romantic and child-terrifying notions about the end of the 
 world, so universally entertained by grave divines, poets, 
 and commentators of almost every class, who in the frensy 
 generated by their fears, have asserted, that 
 
 " The cloud-capt tow'rs, jea the whole earth itself. 
 With all that it ioherit, shall dissolve, 
 And, like the baseless fabric of a vision. 
 Leave not a wreck behind." 
 
 It is, however, time that an end should be put to these 
 wi!d prognostications, and that the children should be per- 
 mitted to sleep quietly in their beds. But as this purpose can 
 only be effected, by first pointing out the consequences of 
 abiding in the mere letter, and then shewing the true sense, 
 in which the passages above cited from the Word and the 
 Epistle of Peter are to be understood, the following observa^ 
 tions are submitted to the judgment of the candid and unpre- 
 judiced reader. 
 
 The prophet Malachi announces the approach of a day, 
 that shall burn as an oven, and he calls it " the great and 
 dreadful day of Jehovah," in which the wicked shall be burnt 
 up as stubble. But the day, of which he speaks, is evidently 
 that of the Lord's first advent into the world ; for in the same 
 chapter the birth and office of John the Baptist, under the 
 character of Elijah the prophet, and as the immediate fore- 
 
 Y 2 runner 
 
172 A VINDICATION OF 
 
 runner of the Messiah, are plainly predicted; and it is added^ 
 that " he shall turn the heart of th^ fathers to the children, 
 and the heart of the children to the fathers, lest the Lord 
 come and smite the earth with a curse," ver. 6. And in ver. 
 2 the godly are comforted with the promise, that " to them 
 the sun of righteousness shall arise with healing in his wings." 
 Now I would ask, Was it literally true, that the day burned 
 as an oven, at the period here alluded to by the prophet ? Was 
 the earth in a state of conflagration at that time ? Or were 
 the wicked literally burnt uj) with fire, and consianed as mere 
 stubble t On the contrary, is it not plainly enough stated, 
 that, notwithstanding the fire which would then rage, still the 
 earth would be preserved, and not smitten with a curse? 
 
 It is again written, " Behold, the day of Jehovah coraeth, 
 cruel both with wrath, and fierce anger ; the stars of heaven, 
 and the constellations thereof, shall not give their light ; the 
 sun shall be darkened in his going forth, and the moon shall 
 not cause her light to shine. I will shake the heavens, and 
 the earth shall remove out of her place, in the wrath of 
 Jehovah, and in the day of his fierce anger," Isa. xiii. 9, 
 10, 13. " The earth is utterly broken clown, the earth is 
 clean dissolved, the earth is moved exceedingly, the earth shall 
 reel to and fro like a drunkard ; then the moon shall be con- 
 founded, and the sun ashamed, when Jehovah of hosts shall 
 reign in mount Zion and in Jerusalem," Isa. xxiv. 19, 20, 23. 
 " The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into 
 blood, before the great and terrible day of Jehovah come," 
 Joel ii. 31. The Psalmist also says, " The earth and all the 
 inhabitants thereof are dissolved," Ps. Ixxv. 3. Here again 
 it may be asked. Was it literally true, that at or immediately 
 preceding the coming of the Lord the sun was darkened, the 
 moon turned into blood, and the stars of heaven refused to 
 give their light ? Were the visible heavens put into a state of 
 extreme agitation or concussion, at the time spoken of ? Was 
 the earth utterly broken down, clean dissolved, and moved 
 out of ifs place, reeling to and fro like a drunkard { Or 
 was there ever a period when the earth and all it's inhabitants 
 
 were 
 
EMANUEL SWEDENBORG's WRITINGS. 173 
 
 were literally dissolved? Yet this is the language of the 
 Holy Word ; and we must believe, that all these things 
 literally occurred, if the doctrine maintained by the opponents 
 of the New Church be true, that the expressions used in 
 Scripture are to be interpreted according to their obvious 
 meaning, and not according to their spiritual signification. 
 
 The same remarks will apply to the passage quoted from 
 Peter's Second Epistle, which, in imitation of the literal sense 
 of the AVord, and probably in language borrowed from a 
 writer much more ancient than himself, (*) speaks of the 
 heavens and the earth being reserved unto fire against the 
 day of judgment, when they, together with all things in them, 
 are to be hutnt, dissolved, and destroyed. We proceed, 
 therefore, to explain what is really meant by the heavens and 
 the earth, which are to be destroyed at the last day, and what 
 by the fire, which is to burn and consume them. 
 
 Nothing is more common in the Sacred Scriptures than 
 to describe the things relating to the church by those which 
 appear in nature, such as the sun, the moon, the stars, the 
 heavens, the earth, tire, water, rain, mountains, hills, valleys, 
 rivers, trees, &c. each of which terms is expressive of some- 
 thing spiritual in man, either of a superior or of an inferior 
 quality. And it is observable, that the same terms have a two- 
 fold application, according to the nature of the subject treated 
 of, being sometimes used to denote states of good and truth, 
 and at other times the opposite states of evil and falsehood. 
 Thus, when a new church is to be raised up instead of a 
 former, which has perished, it is written, " Behold, I create 
 new heavens, and a new earth ; and the former shall not be 
 remembered, nor come into mind," Isa. Ixv. 17. Apoc. xxi. 
 1 ; where the heavens denote the internals of the church, and 
 the earth it's externals. So again fire is a term used to 
 denote, in a good sense, love, warmth of affection, ardent 
 desire, fervent zeal, &c. and in an opposite sense, wrath, 
 anger, fury, hatred, lust, and every state of mental irrita- 
 tion. 
 
 (*) See 8 note oa this subject, p. 40. 
 
174 A VINDICATION OF 
 
 tion. In the former sense, the Word of the Lord is coia-^ 
 pared to fire in Jeremiah : " Is not my word like as a ^re ? 
 saith Jehovah," Jer. xxiii. 29 ; meaning that it is full of love 
 and mercy to the human race. The same divine love of the 
 Lord, in itself perpetual and eternal, was represented by the 
 fire upon the altar, which was kept continually burning, 
 Levit. vi. 12, 13. And it is also in reference to the same 
 divine love, that the Lord is said to " baptize with the Holy 
 Spirit, and with Jire," Matt. iii. 11. Luke iii. 16. In an 
 opposite sense, fire and it's destructive effects are thus 
 spoken of in Isaiah, " Wickedness burneth as the fire : it 
 shall devour the briers and thorns, and shall kindle in the 
 thickets of the forest, and they shall mount up like the lifting 
 xv^oi smoke: the people shall be as tYiefuel of the fire: no 
 man shall spare his brother," Isa. ix. 18, 19. The perverse 
 state of the church from a principle of self-love, in conjunc- 
 tion Nvith the inordinate love of the Avorld, is here described 
 by fire kindling and devouring, and by the lifting up of 
 smoke. In the same sense it is said, " Upon the wicked 
 shall Jehovah rain snares, fire, and brimstone, and an hor- 
 rible tempest," Ps. xi. 6; meaning, not that such literal judg- 
 ments shall be inflicted by the Lord, but that the wicked, 
 by their own evils of life, will bring upon themselves the spi- 
 ritual calamities signified by snares, fire, brimstone, &c. The 
 fire of hell is no other than infernal love, with all the odious 
 passions, lusts, and concupiscences, which agitate and tor- 
 ment the minds of those, who become their willing subjects. 
 It is in reference to such turbulent and disorderly states, ac- 
 companied by the punishments to which they lead, and not 
 to any natural or elementary fire, that the prophet asks, 
 " Who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire ? who 
 amongst us shall dwell with everlasting bttrnings?" Isa. 
 xxxiii. 14. 
 
 From all these considerations it may now plainly appear, 
 that wherever mention is made, in the Word, of the day of 
 Jehovah burning as an oven, or in the Epistles, of the 
 heavens being dissolved by fire, and of the earth and the 
 
 works 
 
EMANUEL SWEDENBOHGS WRITINGS. 175 
 
 works that are therein being- burnt up and consumed, we are 
 uniformly to understand, that it is the end or destruction of 
 the church which is thus described, the internals of which, 
 or the heavens, are consumed by various lusts and concupis- 
 cences, and the externals, or the earth, by the same lusts 
 bi-eaking; forth into outward act, and producing^ manifest 
 evils of life ; in consequence of which it becomes necessary, 
 that new heavens and a new earth should be formed, in other 
 words, that a new church should be raised up by the Lord, 
 which should both internally acknowledge and worship him, 
 and externally live in conformity to his divine laws. By the 
 elements, again, melting with fervent heat, we are to under- 
 stand, not the dissolution of the first principles of nature, 
 which give consistency and stability to the works of outward 
 creation, but the destruction and extinction of the first ele- 
 ments or constituent principles of the church, which are love 
 to the Lord, and love to our neighbour, together with the 
 great truths of the Holy Word, on which they are founded, 
 and without which neither the angelic heavens above, nor 
 the church on earth below, can for a moment exist. 
 
 SECTIOISi 
 
176 A VINDICATION Ol- 
 
 SECTION XIII. 
 
 1 . The Second Coming of the Lord, though expected 
 by many to be in Person, is proved to be in Spirit, 
 that is, in the Opening of his Holy Word. — 2. 
 And such Second Copiing is ejected through the 
 Instrumentality of Einanuel Swedenborg. 
 
 1. THE SECOND COMING OF THE LORD NOT IN PERSON, 
 BUT IN SPIRIT. 
 
 ItJLr. Pike's next objection, p. 21, refers to the second 
 coming of the Lord, which is said to be " denied by Swe- 
 denborg," though he is avowedly the first to proclaim, that 
 it has already taken place, according to the true and only 
 sense in which that great event can be scripturally and 
 rationally understood. The question is, Whether the second 
 coming of the Lord was to be in person, like his first ap- 
 pearance, or in spirit, that is, in the divine truth of his 
 Holy Word, which is one with himself. Mr. Pike, with the 
 late Dr. Priestley, and other literal interpreters of Scripture, 
 holds the former opinion, while the more enlightened and 
 judicious Baron Swedenborg maintains the latter. 
 
 Among the passages urged in favour of a personal 
 coming are the following : " The Son of Man shall come in 
 the glory of his Father, with his angels ; and then he shall 
 reward every man according to his works," Matt. xvi. 27. 
 " The Son of Man shall come in his glory, and all the holy 
 angels with him ; and before him shall be gathered all 
 nations," Matt. xxv. 31, 32. " This same Jesus, who is 
 taken up from you into heaven, shall so come, in like manner 
 as ye have seen him go into heaven," Acts i. 11. " The 
 Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with 
 
 the 
 
EMANUEL SWEDENBORG's WRITINGS. 177 
 
 the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God," 
 1 Thess. iv. 16. From these and similar passages it is 
 inferred, that the Lord will appear personally in the clouds 
 of heaven in great pomp and splendour, to judge the assem- 
 bled race of mankind at his bar, with all the formalities at- 
 tendant upon human courts of justice ; and that the whole 
 earth and ocean shall at the same time be summoned to yield 
 up the bodies which they contain, in order that they, toge- 
 ther with the souls their former tenants, may be adjudged 
 either to eternal life or eternal death. But as these vague 
 and incoherent notions have been already sufficiently exposed 
 in the preceding remarks on the resurrection and last judg- 
 ment, nothing more shall be said on that subject on the pre- 
 sent occasion. Let the following more rational views of the 
 Lord's second advent engage the attention of the reader. 
 
 The doctrine of the New Church, deduced from the 
 Sacred Scriptures, and so intelligibly laid down in the writ- 
 ings of Emanuel Swedenborg, concerning the second coming 
 of the Lord, is this, That, according to the laws of divine 
 order, the Lord cannot come in person into the material 
 world, because since his ascension into heaven he is in his 
 Glorified Humanity; and in this Humanity, although it is 
 omnipresent, he cannot be seen by any man, unless his spi- 
 ritual eyes be first opened, as was the case with all who saw 
 him after his resurrection : for, as a material eye can see 
 nothing but matter, so the Lord's glorified body being di- 
 vinely substantial, and not material, can only be seen by a 
 spiritual eye. Hence, when the Lord manifested himself to 
 his disciples after his resurrection, it is written, that " their 
 eyes were opened, and they knew him ; and he vanished out 
 of their sight," Luke xxiv. 31. So when the women went 
 to the sepulchre on the morning of the resurrection, they saw 
 angels sitting there, whom yet it was impossible to see with 
 the eyes of their natural bodies, but only with the eyes of 
 their spirits. The case was similar with Elisha's young man, 
 who, as soon as his spiritual eyes were opened, and not be- 
 fore, saw a great variety of objects in the spiritual v/orld, 
 
 z viz. 
 
178 A VINDICATION OF 
 
 viz. " horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha," 2 
 Kings vi. 17. From these considerations then it is ])lain, 
 that a material eye cannot see spiritual objects, still less a 
 divine object, such as the glorified body of the Lord. But 
 although the Lord cannot, consistently with divine order, 
 come personally into the world, as he did at the period of 
 his first advent, (being then in an infirm body of material 
 flesh and blood, whereas nov/ his body is altogether divine,) 
 yet he can make his appearance in his Word, which being 
 the divine truth proceeding from himself, is in this respect 
 the same as himself. We therefore read, " In the beginning 
 was the Word, and the Word was with God, and Godxoas 
 the Word," John i. 1. 
 
 Much stress, however, appears to be laid on that passage 
 in the Acts, above quoted, where the angel says, "This 
 same Jesus, who is taken up from you into heaven, shall so 
 come, in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven :" 
 and it is concluded, that, as his ascent was personal and 
 visible, his return will be the same, personal and visible also. 
 In answer to this, let it be observed, and particularly at- 
 tended to, that the whole passage, from which the objection 
 is drawn, is the record of a transaction that occurred, not in 
 the natural, hut in the spiritual world: for, as has been 
 already proved, the Lord never was, nor could be, seen after 
 his resurrection, by the material eyes of any man. He was 
 then in the lower parts of the spiritual world ; consequently 
 his personal ascent must have been from thence into heaven, 
 and not from the material world, which he had left forty 
 days before, viz. at the time of his resurrection. Besides, 
 there are clouds in the spiritual world, equally as well as 
 in the natural world ; and the clouds of the former are more 
 properly called the clouds of heaven, than the latter, which 
 in fact are nothing but the clouds of the earth. It is evi- 
 dent, therefore, that what the angels said of Jesus returning 
 from heaven in like manner as he went up into heaven, ought 
 to be understood as alluding to his appearance in the spiri- 
 tual world, at the time of his second coming, and not to 
 
 any 
 
EMANUEL SWEDENBORg's WRITINGS. 179 
 
 any personal appearance in the natural world. To men on 
 earth, who are enlightened so as to discern the spiritual 
 sense of the Scriptures, the Lord appears as divine truth : 
 but to those inhabitants of the spiritual world, who in heart 
 acknowledge him as the only God of heaven and earth, he 
 not only manifests himself in the character of divine truth, 
 but also occasionally presents himself in person, descending 
 in the same glorious manner, as the men of Galilee saw 
 him ascend. And thus the event, which the augels foretold, 
 liath actually taken place. 
 
 That the above passage in the Acts of the Apostles can- 
 not with propriety be understood in any other sense, than 
 that already explained, may further appear from this consi- 
 deration, that the Lord's ascension was visible only to his 
 followers, whose eyes were opened, and not to the Jews 
 at large. Now if he is to come again in like manner, as 
 is expressly declared, it follows, that his second advent will 
 be witnessed and acknowledged, not by the bulk of man- 
 kind, but (as before, so now again) by bis followers only, 
 whose spiritual eyes or understandings are opened to discern 
 him in bis Word. And all such, in consequence of clearly 
 comprehending the meaning of John, when he says, that 
 God was the Word, will see that the Lord's advent in his 
 Word, consisting of a revelation of it's internal contents, is 
 neither a mere figure nor an emblem, as some may call it, 
 but a divine reality. (*) 
 
 2. THE lord's second COMING EFFECTED THROUGH 
 THE INSTRUMENTALITY OF EMANUEL SWEDENBORG. 
 
 " But," says Mr. Pike, p. 21, " follow Swedenborg one 
 step further, and you come to the highest pitch of his im- 
 piety." And wherein consists the impiety here spoken of? 
 Why, according to the accuser's own statement, in the Ba- 
 ron's 
 
 (' *) See Letters to Dr. Priestky, j>. 30$ to 309. 
 
 z2 
 
180 A VINDICATION OF 
 
 ron's assertion, that " the second coming of the Lord is in 
 order to separate the evil from the good, that they may be 
 saved who have believed and who do believe on him, and 
 that of them may be formed a new angelic heaven, and a 
 new church on the earths ; that without this coming no flesh 
 can be saved ; that it is effected by a man, before whom he 
 hath manifested himself in person, and whom he liath filled 
 with his spirit to teach the doctrines of the New Church by 
 the Word from him ; and that this man is no other than 
 Emanuel Swedenborg himself." Now can any person seri- 
 ously believe, that it is impious to assert, that the coming of 
 the Lord is for the purpose of saving such as believe in him, 
 and of forming a new church both in the spiritual and in 
 the natural world, when it is so plainly declared in the 
 Sacred Scriptures, that he comes not to destroy, but to 
 build up ; not to condemn, but to save ? Or is it any proof 
 of wickedness to say, that the Lord is about to form a new 
 heaven and a new church, when it is expressly announced 
 by John in the Revelation, that he saw " a new heaven and 
 a new earth, and the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming 
 down from God out of heaven?" Yet this is a part of the 
 charge, which Mr. Pike has unwittingly brought against one 
 of the best and most pious of men. 
 
 The chief ground of complaint, however, appears to be, 
 the solemn declaration of Swedenborg, that the Lord mani- 
 fested himself to him in person, and commissioned him to 
 teach the doctrines of the New Church by the Word from 
 him ; and further, that the spiritual sense of the Word being 
 laid open, and the divine presence therein being thus made 
 known to the world, through the instrumentality of a chosen 
 servant, constitute the second coming of the Lord. This 
 Mr. Pike considers to be the height of arrogance, presump- 
 tion, and impiety ; being in his opinion tantamount to the 
 Baron's setting himself up as the subject of prophecy, in the 
 place of the Lord himself! just as if an humble acknowledg- 
 ment that he was only a servant, or instrument in the Lord's 
 hands, was equivalent to his laying claim to the honour due 
 
 unto 
 
EMANUEL SWEDENBORGS WRITINGS. 181 
 
 luito bis Divine Master! Such perversity of judg^meut would 
 equally condemn prophets and apostles for acting and speak- 
 ing in the name of their God, though at the same time they 
 declared they were merely instruments and ministers ap- 
 pointed to perform the divine will. 
 
 Without further noticing the ironical sneers, in which 
 Mr. Pike indulges himself on the subject, our time may be 
 more usefully occupied in pointing out to the candid reader 
 the true ground and reason why so great an event, as the 
 second coming of the Lord, should necessarily require to be 
 effected through the instrumentality of a man. It has been 
 already proved, that the Lord cannot, without a manifest 
 breach of divine order, make his appearance in the world in 
 the way and manner expected by Mr. Pike and nmny others ; 
 but that he is to come in spirit, not in person; that the clouds, 
 in which he will appear, are the literal sense of his Word ; 
 and that the power and glory, by which he will be accom- 
 panied, belong to it's internal or spiritual sense. This being 
 the case, he must of necessity commission some man, placed 
 for the purpose under a high degree of illumination, to open 
 or explain his Word, to teach the genuine doctrines of divine 
 revelation from him, and thus to present the Lord in spirit 
 and in truth before the eyes of all who are disposed to receive 
 and acknowledge him. There appears no other possible 
 mode, whereby divine truth can be published and propagated 
 in the world, than through the agency or instrumentality of 
 man : and therefore in all ages since the first going forth of 
 the Word, even unto the present day, instruments have been 
 employed by the Lord to make known his will, and human 
 means have been made subservient to divine ends. Thus we 
 read, that when Jehovah gave the law upon mount Sinai, he 
 commissioned Moses his servant to stand between him and 
 the people. Dent. v. 5 ; and though he was himself present 
 in the midst of the fire and smoke that overhung the mountain, 
 yet was he not seen by them in person, neither was his voice 
 
 heard. 
 
182 A VINDICATION OF 
 
 beard, John v. 37. (*) Equally present was he afterwards* 
 with the same people, in the ark of the testimony, in the 
 tabernacle, and in the temple ; yet all his commands, his 
 promises, and his blessings, were conveyed to them through 
 the medium of priests, judges, kings, and prophets. For 
 *' surely the Lord Jehovih will do nothing, but he revealeth 
 his secret unto his servants the propliets," Amos iii. 7. Why 
 then should it become matter of astonishment, or be regarded 
 as an incredible thing, that the Lord should, at the period of 
 his second coming in the power and glory of his Word, make 
 choice of a servant in every way qualified to perform the 
 duties of the office to which he has been appointed, and thus 
 to prepare his way among Christians, as John the Baptist did 
 in ancient times among the Jews ? He formerly chose, for 
 prophets and apostles, characters, who in the estimation of 
 the world would have been rejected as altogether unfit for 
 their several employments. Yet the success, which followed 
 and crowned their labours, have in the eyes of all good men 
 completely justified the divine wisdom, in bringing, out of so 
 
 much 
 
 (*) It appears iroin Deut. v. ,22, that the ten connaandmeDts were Utteried 
 ■with a great voice; and from ver. 24, 25, that the people tliaught tliis voice to be 
 the very voice of Jehovah himself, who is also said to have spoken with Moses 
 face to face, ver. 11. But our Lord, who was that same Jehovah, and who best 
 knew what was tlie real truth of the case, said to the Jews, " Ye have neither 
 heard hi* voice at any time, nor seen his shape," John v. 37. In another place it 
 is written, " No man hath seen God at any time ; the only-begotten Son, who is 
 in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him," John i. 18. And again, Jehovah 
 said to Moses, " Thou canst not see my face : for there shall no man see me, and 
 lire," Exod. xxxiii. 20. These apparent contradictions are reconciled by con- 
 sidering, that, when Jehovah manifested himself before the incarnation, he did so 
 through the instrumentality of an angel ; which angel was on such occasions so 
 filled with the divine presence, that he spake, not from himself, but from Jehovah, 
 sometimes as deputed by liim, and at other times as if be were actually Jehovah 
 himself^ see Exod. iii. 2, 4, 6, 14. Chap, xxiii. 20 to 23. Judg. ii. 1. Chap. vi. 
 11 to 24. Chap. xiii. 3 to 23. Zech. iii. 1 to 4. But at and after the incarna- 
 tion, Jehovah made himself visible in his own proper person : wherefore the Lord 
 saitb, " He that hath seen me, hath seen the Father," John xiv. 9. 
 
EMANUEL SWEDENBORGS WRITINGS. ]83 
 
 much evil as then existed, all possible good by the best pos- 
 sible means. And why may not equal, nay superior advan- 
 tages and blessings be now hoped for, seeing that the same 
 all-wise and merciful Lord has again condescended to visit, 
 instruct, and comfort, his people ; and has provided such a 
 messenger, or instrument, for opening his Word, and spread-, 
 ing his truth through all nations, as probably was never before 
 excelled for genuine piety, universal learning, and all the 
 graces becoming the character of an enlightened, upright, 
 and sincere Christian ? 
 
 Indeed every thing around us proclaims aloud, that we 
 are entering upon a new era. By the extraordinary occur- 
 rences, that mark the times in which we live; by the general 
 expectation (similar to that which prevailed at the time of our 
 Lord's first or personal advent in the flesh) of some great 
 event now about to take place ; by the numerous institutions, 
 already adverted to in p. 165, for extending knowledge ; and 
 especially by that splendid moral phenomenon, the association 
 of men of every name, rank, and character, for the purpose 
 of introducing the Sacred Scriptures among all the nations of 
 the earth ; not to mention other undoubted and infallible signs 
 from heaven ; we are distinctly insti'ucted, that now is the 
 period of the Lord's second advent in the clouds of heaven, 
 with power and great glory ; {i. e. in both the literal and 
 spiritual senses of his Holy Word ; ) that now the holy city, 
 New Jerusalem, is descending from on high ; and that hence- 
 forth there shall be in the church only " one Jehovah, and his 
 name one," Zech. xiv. 9; since " the kingdoms of this world 
 are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ, and 
 he shall reign for ever and ever," Apoc. xi. 15. 
 
 That this is not a vain speculation, the fruit of a warm 
 imagination, indulged only by a few individuals, who have 
 embraced and make an open avowal of the doctrines taught 
 by the late Honourable Emanuel Swedenborg, a Swedish 
 nobleman of distinguished learning, piety, and talent, who 
 more than sixty years ago described the spiritual causes then 
 in operation towards the production of that very state of 
 
 society. 
 
184 A VINDICATION OF 
 
 society, which we now behold, and which as yet is to be 
 considered only as introductory to a stiil more glorious and 
 happy day ; but that it is really and in truth a sentiment 
 generated by the late extraordinary events, and by the pros- 
 pect now opening to the enraptured eye of faith in the divine 
 promises, among men not professors of the heavenly doctrines 
 of the New Jerusalem, but yet sufficiently enlightened to 
 read the signs of the times, and to discern the footsteps of 
 the Lord in his second advent; may be plainly inferred from 
 various public documents, and among others from the follow- 
 ing, extracted from the Appendix to the Eleventh Report 
 (for 1815) of the British and Foreign Bible Society. 
 
 In a letter from the president, vice-president, and Com- 
 mittee of the Prussian Bible Society at Berlin, to the British 
 and Foreign Bible Society at London, speaking of the great 
 object of their institution, it is observed, " The Divine Author 
 of this salvation pronounced the preaching of the gospel to 
 the poor, one of the symptoms of his first advent. And 
 thus may the dissemination of the same blessed gospel, in the 
 cottages of the indigent, prove an auspicious omen, that he, 
 whom so many have entirely disowned, is again at hand; and 
 that the children of men are preparing themselves anew to 
 receive him into their hearts, and to consecrate their life in 
 all it's various relations to him, in whose name alone salvation 
 and true joy are promised to the world." 
 
 In another part of the same Report, His Excellency 
 Prince Galitzin, president of the Russian Bible Society, in 
 his letter to Lord Teignmouth, evidently considers the circu- 
 lation of the Scriptures among all nations by the Bible 
 Society, as connected with, if not demonstrative of, " the 
 second advent of the Lord." 
 
 The advantages likely to result to the Christian world 
 from the publication and extensive circulation of sentiments 
 so highly rational and scriptural, as those expressed by the 
 Committee of the Berlin Society, and by His Excellency 
 Prince Galitzin, are, that the heretofore crude, indigested 
 ideas almost universally entertained concerning the second 
 
 coming 
 
EMANUEL SWEDENBORg's WRITINGS. 185 
 
 toming of the Lord in the clouds of heaven, as though he 
 were to make his personal appearance in the natural clouds 
 of the atmosphere, will gradually yield to more just and 
 correct information on the subject, and at length be entirely 
 dissipated. It will then be seen, that the coming of the Lord 
 is not to destroy, but to renew and build up ; not to put a 
 period to the generations of mankind, which would be a 
 limitation of his own infinite bounty, but to create a new 
 seminary for the peopling and enlargement of heaven, by 
 providing more abundant means of instructing the ignorant, 
 reclaiming the immoral, recovering the lost, and finally of 
 drawing to himself all who are willing to become his regene- 
 rate children, acknowledging him alone as their heavenly 
 Father, their Creator, Redeemer, and adorable Saviour. (*) 
 
 (*) See Remarks on th« Holy Leagm, p. 26 to 29. 
 
 A a SECTION 
 
186 A VINDICATION OF 
 
 SECTION XIV. 
 
 1. Swedenhorg falsely charged with being an En- 
 courager of Vice, and giving his Sanction to 
 Fornication, Concubinage, and Adultery, because 
 he discriminates between their relative Degrees of 
 Evil. — 2. I^emale Prostitution. — 3. Indelicacies 
 of Language and Idea. — 4. The probable Reason 
 why in the Word such frequent Mention is made 
 of the Intercourse between the Sexes, and of those 
 Parts of the human Body, which are dedicated 
 to that Office. 
 
 1. SWEDENBORG FALSELY CHARGED WITH BEING AN 
 EMCOURAGER OF VICE, &C. 
 
 W Jl come now to objections of another description, such 
 as no man of sound judgment, capable of distinguishing 
 between virtue and vice, and the different degrees of each, 
 would ever think of bringing forward against a character so 
 truly pious and devout as that of Baron Swedenborg. Mr. 
 Pike, p. 22, &c. charges that author with giving countenance 
 to fornication, concubinage, and adultery, merely because he 
 discriminates between their relative degrees of evil, and 
 shews that one kind of vice is less grievous and destructive 
 of happiness than another. This, after all that Mr. Pike has 
 said on the subject, and after all his partial and unfair quota- 
 tions from the treatise on Conjugial Love, is precisely the 
 state of the question ; on which a few observations have al- 
 ready been offered in a former part of this Vindication, p. 35, 
 but whicli now demands a more particular consideration. 
 
 The 
 
EMANUEL SWEDENBORg's WRITINGS. 187 
 
 The Baron lays it down as the very first principle of his 
 work, that love truly conjugial, or the chaste love subsisting 
 between one husband and one wife, originates in the marriage 
 or conjunction of good and truth ; that it corresponds with 
 the marriage of the Lord and his church ; that it is therefore 
 celestial, spiritual, holy, pure, and clean, in a pre-eminent 
 degree ; that it is the foundation of every species of heavenly 
 love and affection, with all their innumerable felicities ; but 
 that it is imparted to no others than those who approach the 
 Lord, and live according to his divine precepts ; consequently 
 that every deviation from true conjugial love is to be regarded 
 as a departure from the most perfect state of Christian life, 
 either into evil of a relatively venial character, such as the 
 apostle John calls " a sin not unto death," or into evil of a 
 more gross and destructive nature, such as the same apostle 
 emphatically pronounces to be " a sin unto death," 1 John v. 
 16, 17. But as it is not to be expected, that all men should 
 arrive at the high state of purity above spoken of, and it 
 would be the height of cruelty and injustice to condemn with 
 an indiscriminate judgment those, who, by reason of the 
 frailties of their nature, either cannot or do not come up to 
 the standard here pointed out, the author proceeds to shew 
 in what cases the conjugial principle may yet be preserved to 
 a certain degree. This leads him to consider the nature of 
 permission, and how far the divine mercy tolerates some evils, 
 with a view to prevent others of greater enormity, according 
 to these words of our Lord, addressed to the Jews, " Moses, 
 because of the hardness of your hearts, suffered you to put 
 away your wives ; but from the beginning it was not so," 
 Matt. xix. 8 : from which it appears, that by reason of the 
 adulterous propensity of the Jews, or the hardness of their 
 hearts, a law accommodated to their state of evil was per- 
 mitted^ in the place of one more pure and perfect, which 
 doubtless they would have profaned. It is therefore to be 
 well observed, that Emanuel Swedenborg no where recom- 
 mends or approves either of fornication, or of concubinage, 
 still less of adultery in any of it's forms or degrees ; but, on 
 
 A a 2 the 
 
188 A VINDICATION OF 
 
 the contrary, most strenuously advocates the chastity, purity, 
 and sanctity of the marriage state. 
 
 Mr. Pike has introduced into his pamphlet a variety of 
 quotations from Swedenborg's work on Conjugial Love, 
 which, taken in their proper connection, are highly just and 
 important, and merit the approbation of every intelligent 
 reader ; yet when given in detached portions, and especially 
 when mutilated, may in some cases seem to countenance a 
 laxity of morals, \vhich the author never intended. By such 
 a proceeding even the Sacred Scriptures themselves may be 
 make to speak any language, however profane or indelicate, 
 and to give forth any doctrine, however opposed to the truth 
 of their divine spirit. But as no pious or enlightened man 
 would consent to take the character of the Holy Word from 
 an Atheist or a Deist, so it is presumed, that no person of a 
 liberal and candid turn of mind, desirous of receiving infor- 
 mation concerning the principles and doctrines of Emanuel 
 Swedenborg, will acquiesce in the mere assertions and misT 
 representations of an avowed enemy ; but will rather be dis- 
 posed to read for himself the works of that celebrated author, 
 especially his work on Conjugial Love, and to form his own 
 unbiassed judgment on it's most interesting contents. In the 
 mean time the few following extracts therefrom are submitted 
 to the attention of the reader, as undeniable evidence of the 
 nature, spirit, and tendency of that extraordinary and most 
 admirable production. 
 
 " Love, considered in itself, is nothing else but a desire 
 and consequent tendency to conjunction ; and conjugial love 
 to conjunction into one: for the male and female Avere so 
 created, that from two they may become one man, or one 
 flesh ; and when they become one, they are then, taken 
 together, man in his fulness. But without such conjunction 
 they are two, and each is as a divided or half-man. Now 
 whereas the above conjunctive principle lies inmostly con- 
 cealed in all and singular the parts of the male, and in all 
 and singular the parts of the female, and the same is true of 
 the faculty and desire to be conjoined together into one, it 
 
 follows. 
 
EMANUEL SWEDENBORG's WRITINGS. 189 
 
 ibllows, that the mutual and reciprocal love of the sex re- 
 maineth with men after death." Conj. Love, 37. 
 
 " As few know the distinction between the love of the 
 sex and conjugial love, it may be expedient briefly to point 
 out this distinction. The love of the sex is a love directed 
 to several, and contracted with several of the sex ; whereas 
 conjugial love is only directed to one, and contracted with 
 one of the sex. Moreover, love directed to several and con- 
 tracted with several is a natural love, for it is common to man 
 with beasts and birds, which are natural; whereas conjugial 
 love is a spiritual love, and peculiar and proper to men, 
 because men were created, and are therefore born to become 
 spiritual : wherefore so far as man becomes spiritual, so far 
 he puts oflP the love of the sex, and puts on conjugial love." 
 Conj. Love, 48. 
 
 " But no others come into this love, and can be in it, 
 except such as come to the Lord, and love the truths of the 
 church, and practise it's goods. The reason of this is, because 
 monogamical marriages, which are of one husband with one 
 wife, correspond to the marriage of the Lord and the church, 
 and because such marriages originate in the marriage of 
 good and truth. Hence it follows, that conjugial love with 
 man is according to the state of the church with him." Coiij, 
 Love, 70. 
 
 " Conjugial love is according to the state of the church, 
 because it is according to the state of wisdom with man, as a 
 principle of life. It may be asked, What is wisdom as a 
 principle of life i In a summary view, it is to shun evils, 
 because they are hurtful to the soul, and hurtful to the public 
 weal, and hurtful to the body. This is the wisdom to which 
 conjugial love binds itself; for it binds itself thereto by 
 shunning the evil of adultery as the pest of the soul, of the 
 public weal, and of the body : and whereas this wisdom 
 originates in spiritual things appertaining to the church, it 
 follows, that conjugial love is according to the state of the 
 church, because it is according to the state of wisdom with 
 Plan." Conj. Love, 130. 
 
 " The 
 
190 A VINDICATION OF 
 
 " The Christian conjugial principle alone is chast^. 
 Christians, in case they marry more wives than one, commit 
 not only natural, but also spiritual adultery." Conj. Love, 142. 
 
 " The chastity of marriage exists by a total abdication 
 of whoredoms from a principle of religion." Conj. Love, 147. 
 
 " Chastity caniiot be predicated of those, who abstain 
 from adulteries only for various external reasons. Many 
 believe, that the mere abstaining from adulteries in the body 
 is chastity, when yet this is not chastity, unless at the same 
 time there be an abstaining- in spirit. The spirit of man, by 
 which is here meant his mind as to affections and thoughts, 
 constitutes the chaste and unchaste; for hence the chaste or 
 unchaste hath place in the body, the body being in all cases 
 such as the mind or spirit is. Hence it follows, that they 
 who abstain from adulteries in the body, and not by influence 
 from the spirit, are not chaste ; neither are they chaste, who 
 abstain from them in spirit as influenced from the body. 
 There are many assignable causes, which make man desist 
 from adulteries in body, and also in spirit as influenced from 
 the body ; but still, he who doth not desist from them in body 
 as influenced from the spirit, is unchaste ; for the Lord saith, 
 ** that ivliosoever looketh on a ivoman to lust after her, hath 
 committed adultery with her already in his heart," Matt. v. 
 28. It is impossible to reckon up all the causes of abstinence 
 from adulteries in the body only ; for they are various accord- 
 ing to states of marriage, and also according to states of the 
 body : for there are some persons, who abstain from them out 
 of fear of th6 civil law and it's penalties ; some out of fear of 
 the loss of reputation, and thereby of honour ; some out of 
 fear of diseases, which may be thereby contracted ; some 
 out of fear of domestic quarrels on the part of the wife, 
 whereby the quiet of their lives may be disturbed ; some out 
 of fear of revenge on the part of the husband or relations ; 
 some out of fear of chastisement from the servants of the 
 family ; some also abstain from motives of poverty, or of 
 avarice, or of imbecility arising either from disease, or from 
 abuse, or from age, or from impotence. Of these there are 
 
 some 
 
EMANUEL SWEDENBORGS WRITINGS. 191 
 
 3ome also, who, because they cannot or dare not commit 
 adultery in the body, on this account commit adulteries in the 
 spirit; and thus they speak morally against adulteries, and in 
 favour of marriages. But such persons, unless in spirit they 
 call adulteries accursed, and this from a religious principle 
 in the spirit, are still adulterers ; for although they do not 
 commit them in body, yfet in spirit they do commit them : 
 wherefore after death, when they become spirits, they speak 
 openly in favour of them. From these considerations it is 
 manifest, that even a wicked person may shun adulteries as 
 hurtful, but that none except a Christian can shun them as 
 sins." Conj. Love, 153. 
 
 " A state of marriage is to be preferred to a state of 
 celibacy : the reason of which is, because it is a state or- 
 dained from creation ; because it originates in the maniage 
 of good and truth ; because it's correspondence is with the 
 marriage of the Lord and the church ; because the church 
 and conjugial love are constant companions ; because it's use 
 is more excellent than the uses of all things of creation, for 
 thence according to order is derived the propagation of the 
 human race, and also of the angelic heaven, this latter being 
 formed from the human race. Add to these considerations, 
 that marriage is the fulness of man, for by it man becomes a 
 full man. All these things are wanting in celibacy." Conj. 
 Love, 156. 
 
 " The delights of conjugial love ascend to the highest 
 heaven, and join themselves in the way thither and there 
 with the delights of all heavenly loves, and thereby enter 
 into their happiness, which endures for ever : the reason is, 
 because the delights of that love are also the delights of wis- 
 dom. But the pleasures of scortatoiy love descend even to 
 the lowest hell, and join themselves in the way thither and 
 there with the pleasures of all infernal loves, and thereby 
 l^nter into their unhappiness, which consists in the wretchedr 
 ness of all heart-delights : the reason is, because the plea- 
 sures of that love are also the pleasures of insanity," Conj. 
 Love, 294. " Scor- 
 
192 A VINDICATION OF 
 
 " Scortatory love is opposite to conjugial love, as lieU 
 is opposite to heaven." Conj, Love, 429. 
 
 " That the lust of fornication is not the lust of adultery, 
 every one sees clearly from common perception. What law 
 and what judge imputes a like criminality to the fornicator 
 as to the adulterer ? The reason why this is seen from com- 
 mon perception is, because fornication is not opposite to con- 
 jugial love, as adultery is. In fornication conjugial love may 
 lie stored up within, as what is spiritual may lie stored up in 
 what is natural : but the libidinous and obscene love of adul- 
 tery is opposite to conjugial love, and destructive thereof." 
 Conj. Love, 449. 
 
 " There are two kinds of concubinage, which differ ex- 
 ceedingly from each other, the one conjointly with a wife, 
 the other apart from a wife. The former is illicit to Chris- 
 ' tians, and detestable : the latter, when engaged in from 
 causes legitimate, just, and truly conscientious, is not so." 
 Conj. Love, 463, 464, 467. 
 
 Among the legitimate causes for separation the Baron 
 ranks vitiated states of the body ; but by these he does not 
 mean " accidental diseases, which befal one or other conju- 
 gial partner within the time of their marriage, and pass away, 
 but inherent diseases, which do not pass away." Conj. Love, 
 262. 
 
 " There are four degrees of adulteries, which, from the 
 nature of circumstances and contingencies, are to be reputed 
 milder or more grievous. A man, from rational conviction, 
 according to circumstances and contingencies, may absolve a 
 person, whom a judge, whilst he sits in judgment, cannot 
 absolve from the law ; and also a judge may absolve a per- 
 son, who after death is condemned. The reason is, because 
 a judge gives sentence according to actions done ; whereas 
 after death every one is judged according to the intentions 
 of the will and thence of the understanding, and according 
 to the confirmations of the understanding and thence of liM! 
 will. These intentions and confirmations a judge doth not 
 tee: nevertheless each judgment is just, one for the sake of 
 
 thQ 
 
 »^ 
 
EMANUEL SWEDENBORGIS WRITINGS. 193 
 
 iHie good of civil society, the other for the sake of the good 
 of heavenly society." Co?ij. Love, 485. 
 
 " Vairious circumstances exist in the world, which miti- 
 gate arid excuse crimes, also which aggravate and charge 
 them upon the perpetrator : nevertheless imputations after \ 
 death take place, not according to circumstances which are 
 .external of the deed, but according to internal circumstances 
 of the mind ; and these are viewed according to the state of 
 the church with every one ; as for example, a man, who 
 bath no fear of God, nor love of his neighbour, and conse- 
 quently no reverence for any sanctity of the church, after 
 death becomes guilty of all crimes which he did in the body, 
 nor is remembrance had of his good actions, inasmuch as 
 his heart, from whence as from a fountain those things 
 flowed, was averse from heaven, arid tui'ued to hell. In 
 order that this may be uuderstood, I will relate an arcanum : 
 Heaven is distinguished into innumerable societies, in like 
 manner hell from an opposite principle; and the mind of 
 every man, according to his will and consequent understand- 
 ing, actually dwells in one society, and intends and thinks 
 in like manner with those who compose the society. If the 
 mind be in any society of heaven, it then intends and thinks 
 in like manner with those who compose that society ; if it be 
 in ariy society of hell, it iriterids and thinks in like manner 
 with those who are in the same society ; but so long as man 
 lives in the world, so long he migrates from one society to 
 another, according to the changes of the affections of his 
 will and of the consequent thoughts of his mind ; but after 
 death his peregrinations are collected, and from the collec- 
 tion thereof into one a place is allotted him, in hell if he be 
 evil, in heaven if he be good. Now whereas all in hell are 
 influenced by a will of evil, all are viewed there from that 
 wi41 ; arid whereas all in heaven are influenced by a will of 
 ^^dd, aH are viewed there froiA that will : wherefore inlpu- 
 li^ns after death have prlace according to the quality of 
 m^ty one's will and understanding- The case is similar with 
 scortations; whether they be fornications, or pellicacies, or 
 
 B b con- 
 
194 A VINDICATION OF 
 
 concubinages, or adulteries, inasmuch as those things ar« 
 imputed to every one, not according to the deeds themselves, 
 but according to the state of the mind in the deeds ; for 
 deeds foijow the body into the tomb, whereas the mind rises 
 again." Conj. Love, 530. 
 
 From these extracts the reader has now an opportunity 
 of judging how far Mr. Pike is justifiable in his endeavours 
 to vilify the character of Baron Swedenborg, by represent- 
 ing him as an encourager of vice. The most favourable con- 
 struction that can be put on his remarks is,- that the per- 
 mission of evil, together with it's many varieties both in kind 
 and in degree, being a subject altogether new to him, he 
 has not been able to comprehend it in it's several bearings, 
 and is therefore incompetent to give an opinion on the ex- 
 tended and enlightened views of the noble Swede. It is in 
 theology, as it is in natural philosophy : the mere smatterer 
 in this latter science is always the most confident, that his 
 own narrow conceptions of the works of creation are correct, 
 though he cannot see beyond the limits of the first horizon 
 presented to his eye. So the mere novice in the science of 
 theology, and the laws whereby human societies are bound 
 together, is always the most forward to impeach those maxims 
 of liberality and truth, which he has not the soul to embrace, 
 but which nevertheless are calculated to elevate the under- 
 stemding even into the light of heaven. Such a novice is Mr. 
 Pike: the confined system of ethics, in which he has been 
 educated, and the contracted notions of religion, which he 
 has imbibed, either from his peculiar studies or from his sec- 
 tarian associates, have totally disqualified him from forming 
 a sound judgment on any one of the points he has undertaken 
 to discuss. What are we to think of a man, who expressly 
 condemns the work of repentance, under the pretence of ad'> 
 vocating the cause of religion ? Yet Mr. Pike, in his over- 
 heated zeal to condemn Swedenborg, has actually done thia* 
 Swedenborg sa\s, {Conj. Love, 455,) that " if the man, who 
 has been living in a state of fornication, converts himself to 
 conjugial love, that is, to a love truly spiritual, as being 
 
 derived 
 
EMANUEb SWEDENBORG's WRITINGS. 195 
 
 derived from the Lord himself, he theu converts himself to 
 heaven; but if to the love of adultery, he then converts him- 
 self to hell." This doctrine is held up by Mr. Pike to the 
 reprobation of his readers, although he knows that this con- 
 version from evil to good is strongly recommended in the 
 Word. " When the wicked man turneth away from his 
 svickedness that he hath committed, and doth that which is 
 lawful and right, he shall save his soul alive. Because he 
 considereth, and turneth away from all his transgressions that 
 he hath committed, he shall surely live, he shall not die. 
 Repent, and turn yourselves from all your transgressions ; so 
 iniquity shall not be your ruin. Cast away from you all 
 your transgressions, whereby ye have transgressed, and make 
 you a new heart, and a new spirit ; for why will ye die, O 
 house of Israel ?" Ezek. xviii. 27 to 31. 
 
 2. FEMALE PROSTITUTION. 
 
 Mr. Pike further observes, p. 25, that " on Baron Swe- 
 denborg's principles it is not unlawful, but allowable, for one 
 sex to indulge in fornication, and consequently it must be as 
 allowable for the other sex to live in prostitution." We have 
 already seen, that the crime of fornication is considered by 
 the. Baron as an evil, but not of so atrocious a nature as 
 adultery ; and therefore that it is permitted, not in the way 
 of approbation, as Mr. Pike insinuates, but with a view to 
 prevent a greater evil. The same rule is equally applicable 
 to both sexes: and there is no more reason or justice in the 
 conclusion, that a life of whoredom is lawful for females, 
 than that a life of fornication is lawful for males. The drift 
 of Mr. Pike's reasoning appears to be simply this : If a man 
 be permitted to indulge in fornication, then a woman must 
 also be permitted to prostitute herself; since the fofi.A.'- per- 
 mission cannot exist without the latter. Admitting this to 
 be true, what then? does it follow, that the permission in 
 either case amounts to approbation ? Until this can be 
 proved, the argument carries with it no more weight than a 
 
 B b 2 feather. 
 
190 A VINDICATION OF 
 
 feather. Evils of much greater magnitude, than such as re- 
 late to individuals, are tolerated in states, which comprize 
 many individuals ; but in all these cases the laws and cus- 
 toms adopted have for their end the suppression of more 
 grievous offences against the welfare and peace of society. 
 Informers, spies, and thief-takers, are characters of no good 
 name in any country ; yet they are permitted and employed 
 Math the view of preventing and curing the greatest disorders 
 in a community. A standing army also, consisting of men 
 hired to fight and destroy their fellow-men, or by their mar- 
 tial attitude to d^ter an enemy from landing on our shores, 
 may be regarded as an evil, but surely not so great an evil 
 as actual war itself, or the devastation of a country by a bar- 
 barous enemy ; and although the one may seem to imply the 
 other, still the danger to be apprehended from the greater 
 evil, in the eyes of all reasonable men, will ever justify the 
 permission of the less. 
 
 So with respect to the inordinate love of the sex, which 
 in some men, and under certain circumstances, ^cannot be 
 altogether checked without producing the most deplorable 
 calamities both to the individuals concerned, and to society 
 at large, it ha& been found necessary to tolerate, under pro-^ 
 per regulations, public stews, or houses of ill fame, in many 
 populous cities of Europe, as in London, Amsterdam, Paris, 
 Vienna, Venice, Naples, Rome, &c. &c. : and^ this tolera- 
 tion or permission has been sanctioned by kings, magistrates^ 
 judges, and\ otlier authorities of the several states, as well as 
 by the people at large, purely for the sake of preventing 
 greater and more destructive disorders. In every point of 
 view, therefore, which can be taken of the subject, we are 
 authorized to conclude, that fornication on the part of the 
 male, and prostitution on the part of the female, though ac- 
 knowledged to be evils in themselves, are in the present 
 state of society wisely permitted, not as matter of favour or 
 choice, but of necessity, to prevent as much as possible adul*- 
 teries of every kind, violations of the chaste, and seductions 
 of the iwiQcent, besides other nameless abominations. 
 
 3. INDE- 
 
EMANUEL SWEDENBORG's WRITINGS. 197 
 
 8. INDELICACIES OF LANGUAGE AND IDEA. 
 
 Again, Mr. Pike, p. 22, not only charges the author 
 with having- " delighted in letting his thoughts dwell on im- 
 pure scenes, and in meditating frequently on different lusts ;" 
 but in his extreme modesty affects so nice a Sense of deli- 
 cacy, as to be incapable of transcribing the exact words used 
 by the Baron in his enumeration of the conscientious and 
 legitimate causes of separation from the bed, though not from 
 the house ; thus leading his readers to suppose, that the lan- 
 guage of Baron Swedenborg is gross and forbidding to the 
 last degree, when yet of all the writers who erer treated of 
 such subjects, he is confessedly the most chaste, the most 
 delicate, and the most correct, not only in his ideas, but 
 also in his expressions. On the first part of tiie charge, 
 that he suffered his thoughts to dwell on impure scenes, and 
 meditated on different lusts, it may be asked, How was it 
 possibte for him, or any other autlior, to write with perspi- 
 cuity and effect on love truly conjugial, and on the blessed- 
 ness attending it, without contrasting them with those lusts 
 and impure pleasures which are in direct opposition to them ? 
 Or how could he, with any degree of accuracy and precision, 
 point out the various genera, species, and shades of vice, 
 without previously meditating on the subject? A charge so 
 trifling, childish, and contemptible, was surely never before 
 brought against any author. To what lengths will not preju- 
 dice and envy cany a man ! HPad the Baron written without 
 thought, without meditation, arid without discrimination, as* 
 some are suspected to have done in their recent attacks onr 
 him, the charge might have been entertained, and suffered 
 to have it's full weight: but when it is made matter of dis- 
 tinct accusation against him, that he had' studied his subject, 
 that he had meditated and refected upon it in all if s varieties" 
 and bearings, what' shall we say of the man, who hesitates- 
 not to expose himself to just censure, provided be can butibr* 
 a moment injure the reputation of the pious and enlightened- 
 Sweden- 
 
198 A VINDICATION OF 
 
 Swedenborg ? Let him follow the example, which he affects 
 to despise ; and in future, when he takes up his pen, let him 
 think before he writes. 
 
 With regard to those'alledged indelicacies of expression 
 in the Baron's work on Conjugial Love, particularly in n. 
 472 and 473, which Mr. Pike says, p. 27, modesty will not 
 permit him to repeat, and instead of which he gives the mere 
 dash of his pen , as the most effectual way of con- 
 vincing the reader of the justice of his charge ; the passages 
 referred to have been closely examined, and so far from there 
 being a single expression in them offensive to a chaste ear, 
 the language is in every respect decorous, and becoming the 
 subject, as well as the character of the writer. Who would 
 imagine, that the words objected to by Mr. Pike, as too 
 indelicate for his tongue to pronounce, or his hand to tran- 
 scribe, are no other than prolijication, actual love, and con-^ 
 jugial debt ? terms by which the author has so well expressed 
 his meaning, as the apostle Paul before him has done by the 
 phrase due benevolence, 1 Cor. vii. 3. Yet this is the griev- 
 ance complained of, this the gross language which Mr. Pike's 
 refined sense of decency would not suffer to appear in his 
 page ! His extreme delicacy calls to mind what Moses said 
 in ancient times, on another occasion, " The man that is 
 tender among you, and very delicate, his eye shall be evil 
 toward his brother, and toward the wife of his bosom, and 
 toward the remnant of his children," Deut. xxviii. 54. Who 
 ever conducted himself more delicately than Agag the Amale- 
 kite ? Yet with all his affectation of nice and delicate feel- 
 ings, '' Samuel hewed him in pieces before J eho\ ah," 1 Sam. 
 XV. 32, 33. 
 
 It is a just observation of the apostle, that " to the pure 
 all things are pure; but unto them that are defied, and 
 unbelieving, is nothing pure," Titus i. 15. To persons of 
 the latter description even the Sacred Scriptures themselves, 
 in various places, must appear deserving of censure : and 
 indeed it is well known, that on Jhis very account Deists 
 and others have not scrupled to reprobate them as unworthy 
 
 of 
 
EMANUEL SWEDENBORG's WRITINGS. 199 
 
 of being' dictated by a holy and wise God. Mr. Pike pro- 
 bably, as a minister of religion, will not venture openly to 
 denounce the Levitical law, though written in terms much 
 plainer than any used by the Baron. But by what rule of 
 judgment, it may be asked, will he spare or perhaps justify 
 the one, while he condemns, without a moment's reflection, 
 the similarly chaste and select language of the other ? 
 
 4. THE PROBABLE REASON WHV IN THE WORD SUCH 
 FREQUENT MENTION IS MADE OF THE INTERCOURSE 
 BETWEEN THE SEXES, &C. 
 
 As an occasion now offers, it may not be improper to 
 state what appears to be the true ground and reason why in 
 the Word such frequent mention is made of the intercourse 
 between the sexes, and of those parts of the human body, 
 which are more particularly dedicated to that office. And 
 this the writer is inclined to do purely for the sake of 
 vindicating the language of revelation, and shewing that, 
 notwithstanding the calumnies heaped upon it by enemies, 
 and the doubts which have been entertained of it's propriety 
 by men of learning and piety, it is still in every expression 
 holy, chaste, and clean ; as it is written, " The words of the 
 Lord are pure words; as silver purified in a furnace of 
 earth, purified seven times" Ps. xii. 6. " Thy word is 
 very pure,'' Ps. cxix. 140. " Every word of God is pure" 
 Prov. XXX. 5. 
 
 It is well known, that the Lord is called the Word ; that 
 "when he came into the world for the redemption of mankind, 
 the Word was then made flesh, John i. 14; and that after he 
 bad departed out of the world, he was seen by John as a 
 Divine Man, bein^ still called The Word of God, Apoc. i. 
 13 to 18. Chap. xix. 11 to 16. Now if the Lord be indeed 
 the Word, and if the Word also be flesh, that is, Man, then 
 it is reasonable to suppose, that every part of the human 
 frame should be distinctly noted in the Word, in order to 
 
 teach 
 
200 A VINDICATION OF 
 
 teach us, that divine tratli, in it's several gradations from 
 inmost principles to ultimate effects, is adapted not only to 
 tlie faculties and energies of the mind, but also to the powers 
 and organs of the body, so as to form the whole man into an 
 image and likeness of his God. For as the Lord himself, by 
 fulfilling the Word in his own person, made his Humanity 
 the tabernacle, temple, and habitation of the pure Divinity, 
 insomuch that every portion of his body, even to the very 
 sensual and corporeal principles, was at length completely 
 identified with the divine nature ; so bis example is held out 
 to his followers as the rule, whereby they ought to govern the 
 internal affections and thoughts of their spirit, and at the 
 same time the external actions of their body. With this view, 
 and to shew, that, when man is in a state of heavenly order, 
 every organ of his frame may become instrumental in pro- 
 mating l^ome speciiie good or use in the Lord's kingdom^ 
 witii which there is a correspondence in all his members ; and 
 on the contrary to point out, when he is in a state of disorder, 
 the precise nature of the evil by which he opposes the divine 
 wiU, tiie Sacred Scriptures, in speaking of the church, 
 sometimes as a male, and at other times as a female, make 
 repeated and distinct mention of the head, the face, the 
 eyes, the ears,^ the cheeks, thes mouth, the lips, the tong,ii«, 
 the teeth,, tlie neck, tlie throat, the breast, the back, the 
 side, the nibs, the arms, tlie hands, the fingers, tJie heart, 
 the fed ns, tlie inward parts, the belly, the loins, the womb, 
 the thighs, the knees, the legs, the ancles, the feet, the heel, 
 the sole, tiie toes, the flesh, tbe blood, the skin^ the bones, 
 the sinews, the hair, the nails, the dress, &c. &c. with many 
 of the functions and actions peculiar to the several parts of 
 the body here enumerated. To cite all the passages, where 
 these and other expressions of the kind are to be found, 
 would be an endless task : suffice it to say, they are inter- 
 spersed throughout the Sacred Pages; and it cannot be 
 donbted^ that they have a place therein^ in consequence of the 
 celatiou which they bear, either in a good or in an- opposite 
 
 sense, 
 
EMANUEL SWEDENBORG S WRITINGS. 201 
 
 sense, to the church, to heaven, and even to the Lord him- 
 self, who is present with all the fulness of his Divinity in 
 every point and tittle of his Word. 
 
 It may be further observed, that the Word, while it 
 embraces every possible state of good and truth, to which the 
 human race can be elevated, treats also of every possible 
 degree of evil and folly, to which it can be debased : (*) and 
 as it is the desire and purpose of the Lord to deliver man 
 from the evils and corruptions of his nature, this desire and 
 purpose accompany every expression in his Word, and render 
 that chaste and pure, which might otherwise appear to be of 
 a contrary desci-iption. So with respect to human produc- 
 tions, the modesty or immodesty of words (if free from 
 gross vulgarisms) depends entirely on the state of the writer's 
 mind, and the end or motive by which he is influenced. 
 If, for example, in treating of marriage, or of the inter- 
 course between the sexes, a spiritual or chaste motive pre- 
 dominate, and keep in check those carnal, libidinous ideas, 
 which are apt to be engendered in the natural mind, when 
 separated from the spiritual, the writing or conversation in 
 such case is not to be regarded as injurious to the most delicate 
 feeling of chastity, because, the intention being to convey 
 
 useful 
 
 (*) A very remarkable circumstance is recorded iu the Word coDcerniag 
 David, viz. that " he changed his behaviour, and feigned himself marf, and scrabbled 
 on the doors of the gate, and let his spittle fall dovni upon his beard," 1 Sain. xxi. 
 13. And it appears, that Achisb, the king of Gatli, at whose hoase he then was, 
 actually thought him mad : for he said onto his servants, " Lo, you see the man 
 is mad," ver. 14. As David was a representative of the Lord, who afterwards 
 became the Word in ultimates, and fulfilled every part of it, may not the circum- 
 stance above related represent the divine care and providence over those unfor- 
 tunate and helpless beings, who either from their birth or by accident are incapable 
 of the just exercise of reason ? May it not be intended to teach us, tliat the 
 benefits of redemption are extended even to ideots and roadmen, to persons 
 altogether destitute of the rational faculty, as well as to those who have in a 
 thousand ways perverted and abused it ? seeing that the Lord took upon himself 
 all the infirmities of the human race, as it is written, " Surdy he hath borne our 
 griefs, and carried our sorrows," Isa. liii. 4. And again, " In all their affliction 
 he was afflicted, and the angel of his presence saved them," Isa. Ixiii. 9. 
 
 C C 
 
202 A VINDICATION OP 
 
 useful instruction, the language is qualified by the motive, 
 and the ruling idea gives no provocation to lasciviousness. 
 H^nce medicul men, by the nature of their profession, are 
 frequently under the necessity of conversing on subjects of 
 the greatest delicacy, yet without meriting the imputation of 
 indecorum. Want of chastity, or immodesty in language, on 
 the other hand, consists in the disclosure of impure motives, 
 and in suffering sensual ideas either to gain the ascendancy 
 over those which are of a higher order, or to extinguish them 
 altogether. In this latter case no modest female can for a 
 moment listen to the conversation, or suffer her attention to 
 be arrested by a subject so repugnant to her feelings. On 
 the whole, it may therefore be justly concluded, that neither 
 chastity nor unchastity depends upon the mere external ex- 
 pression, but on the internal state of affection and thought, 
 which give it birth ; and again, that the same expressions 
 may be innocent and chaste in the mouth and ears of one 
 person, while they are of an opposite character in those of 
 another, since, according to the authority before quoted, " to 
 the pure all things are pure, and to the defiled all things are 
 unclean." 
 
 What now has Mr. Pike gained by his unjust and un- 
 generous exclamations against the character, language, and 
 tendency of Baron Swedenborg's writings, especially of his 
 work on Conjugial Love ? Has he, in the estimation of any 
 candid, unprejudiced reader, succeeded in giving a true 
 picture of what he calls " SwedenhorgianismV Has he not, 
 on the contrary, put a false colouring on every object that 
 he has attempted to delineate ? Even his own friends, it 
 appears, have expressed their doubts both of his accuracy 
 in quotation, and of hjs fairness in comment. Though the 
 doctrines maintained by the Baron have been frequently and 
 warmly opposed by different writers, it has been almost uni- 
 versally conceded by them, that he was entitled to the greatest 
 respect for his piety and good intentions. Mr. Pike, how- 
 ever, has chosen a different course ; and, instead of acknow- 
 ledging a single trait of excellence in a man, who devoted a 
 
 lonff 
 
EMANUEL SWEDENBORG's WRITINGS. 203 
 
 Jong" life to the welfare and improvement of society, without 
 hope or expectation of reward, has added, to other severe 
 and unmerited charges, that of his being an encourager of 
 vice in some of it's most pernicious forms ! As it was with 
 the Lord himself in the days of his flesh, when he taught 
 doctrines that were altogether new to the Jews, so it is now 
 come to pass with one of his most distinguished servants in 
 our day : " There is much murmuring among the people coh- 
 cerning him : for some say. He is a good man ; others say, 
 Nay, but he deceiveth the people" John vii. 12. The op- 
 position, therefore, which has been experienced by the New 
 Church in general, and the false accusations which have been 
 brought against it's appointed messenger in particular, are 
 no more than what might have been expected from the dege- 
 nerate state of the human mind, and our Lord's predictions 
 of the treatment that his servants in all ages would receive 
 from the world : " Remember the word that I said unto you, 
 The servant is not greater than the lord : if they have per' 
 secuted me, they wilj also ^ersecw^e yow," John xv. 20. 
 
 c c 2 SECTION 
 
204 A VINDICATION OP 
 
 SECTION XV. 
 
 1 . The Rise and Progress of the Mahometan Re- 
 ligion under the Divine Providence of the Lord. 
 — 2. The Difference between the mere external 
 Gratification of the Senses, as held out by Ma- 
 homet to his Folloivers, and the pure Joys and 
 Delights of Heaven, uhich are described by JBaron 
 Stvedenborg, 
 
 1. THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE EXEMPLIFIED IN THE PER- 
 MISSION OF MAHOMETANISM. 
 
 AT is next charged against Swedenborg, p. 29, tbat Le 
 represents Mahometanism as a divine religion, because he 
 says, that both in it's rise and progress it was under the 
 guidance of the divine providence of the Lord, being cal- 
 culated to extirpate the gross idolatries of the eastern 
 nations, and to give them some knowledge concerning the 
 Sacred Scriptures of both Testaments, and his birth in the 
 world as the Son of God. The warmth, with which Mr. Pike 
 agitates this question, and which seems to clothe him with all 
 the enthusiasm and fury of Peter the Hermit, the instigator 
 of the holy wars against the poor Turks, leads one to suspect, 
 that, were he able, he would gladly excite a war of extermi- 
 nation against the Swedenborgians. The question (says he 
 at the beginning of his pamphlet, p. 3,) which he means to 
 discuss, IS not a question like that between Churchmen and 
 liisseuteis, Arminians and Calvinists, where both sides may 
 retain tLeir own sentiments, and yet with equal justice claim 
 the houomable appellation of Christian ; but it stands on 
 exactly the same ground as a question discussed between 
 Christians and Mahometans." He further adds, that " the 
 
 two 
 
EMANUEL SWEDENBORGS WRITINGS. 205 
 
 two systems of the Lord Jesus and Swedenborg are so dia- 
 metrically opposite, that it is as impossible to adhere to them 
 both at the same time, as it is at the same time to be a 
 Christian and a Mahometan, or a Christian and a Heathen." 
 Again, in p. 30, " Can it be believed, that a religion pro- 
 pagated by burning towns, ravaging countries, slaughtering 
 armies, ravishing females, beheading prisoners, and making 
 conquered nations embrace it or die, was propagated by the 
 providence of God ? What then must we think of Sweden- 
 borg, who tells you it was i Did the spirit that inspired tlie 
 gentle messengers of peace, or the spirit that inspired Maho- 
 met, inspire himZ" 
 
 This is the way, in which Mr. Pike indulges himself in 
 railing against Baron Swedenborg, chiefly on account of his 
 assertion, that the divine providence of the Lord was con- 
 cerned in the rise and progress of the Mahometan religion. 
 He cannot conceive, that the divine providence has any thing 
 to do with the transactions of wicked men, or with the pro- 
 pagation of a false religion ; neither does he appear to have 
 the least idea, that out of much evil and disorder great good 
 may eventually be brought about, and that it is to such future 
 ^ood that the Lord constantly looks in all the permissions of 
 his wisdom and providence. Let him, however, turn only to 
 the history of the Israelites, and lie will find abundant reason 
 to change his views of the subject. When that nation, which 
 from first to last was a stiff-necked, rebellious, idolatrous, 
 and adulterous generation, came forth out of Egypt, a gene- 
 ral destruction «f their enemies took place in the red sea, 
 £xod. xiv. 28. Was not this of the divine providence of the 
 
 - Lord, that the people, whom he had selected to constitute a 
 representative (not a real spiritual) church, might afterwards 
 be established in the land of Canaan ? So again ^hew Joshua 
 Jed them into that land, the inhabitants of Jericho " were 
 : utterly destroyed, both man and woman, young and old, and 
 ox, and sheep, and ass, with the edge of the sword," Josh, 
 vi. 21. Surely this also was of the divine providence ; for 
 
 f> it is expressly stated in the same chapter, that Jehovah gave 
 
 the 
 
206 A VINDICATION Of 
 
 the city into the hands of Joshua, and still continued to be 
 with him, ver. 2, 27. The case was similar with other cities 
 and their inhabitants, which were even commanded to be de- 
 stroyed on account of the idolatries then universally prevalent 
 among them, and that the knowledge of the true God might 
 be introduced through the medium of the Israelites, who 
 were in possession of a divine revelation, though they were 
 themselves far from being an obedient people of the Lord. 
 
 Many other examples might be produced to shew, that 
 the divine providence was actively concerned in transactions 
 of the greatest enormity, controlling, regulating, and direct- 
 ing them, by unknown means, to the production of unex- 
 pected blessings. Such particularly was the case of Joseph, 
 who was sold by his brethren, carried as a slave into Egypt, 
 imprisoned on a false charge preferred against him by his 
 master's wife, but afterwards set free and appointed to be 
 ruler over all the land of Egypt, and at length became the 
 protector and supporter of his own family, of those very 
 brethren, who had before given such decided proofs of their 
 envy and malice against him. That there was a superin- 
 tending providence in all these circumstances, is too plain to 
 be denied. Joseph also himself said to his brethren, after 
 they had witnessed the happy result of the many distressing 
 scenes that had preceded, " As for you, ye thought evil 
 against me ; but God nieant it unto good, to bring to . pass, 
 as it is this day, to save much people alive," Gen. 1. 20. 
 
 And even with respect to Christianity itself, the main- 
 tenance and propagation of which have been attended with 
 the greatest disasters and calamities in various parts of the 
 world, who is prepared to say, that it has been on that ac- 
 count deserted of the divine providence ? Or who, from the 
 circumstance of it's professors having mistaken the true sense 
 of the Sacred Scriptures on the divine trinity, and acknow- 
 ledging three Gods instead of one God, will deny, that a 
 divine providence has accompanied that religion from ifs 
 commencement to the present day ? Not that the Lord, or 
 his Word, is the cause of the en'or and wickedness above 
 
 alluded 
 
EMANUEL SWEDENBORGS WRITINGS. 207 
 
 alluded to, but man alone, who, in consequence of the gene- 
 ral depravity of his mind, is too apt " to call evil good, and 
 good evil ; to put darkness for light, and light for darkness," 
 Isd. V. 20. The truth is, as every enlightened mind will 
 readily acknowledge, that where the highest and most per- 
 fect state of good cannot be directly or immediately attained, 
 it is consistent with the divine wisdom and superintending 
 providence of the Lord to permit evils of almost every de- 
 scription, and yet to give such a direction to them, and to 
 the events connected with them, as shall tend to the ultimate 
 production of the greatest po5si&/e good. 
 
 From these and similar considerations it is very evident, 
 that Mr. Pike has taken a most imperfect view of the nature 
 and objects of the divine providence, and, by denying that 
 it was at all concerned in the propagation of the Mahometan 
 religion, has rashly pronounced a judgment on what he does 
 not understand. He gives indeed a short extract from Swe- 
 denborg's account of Mahometanism ; but, as he omits the 
 able reasoning of that author on the effects produced by it 
 among many of the eastern nations, it is almost impossible 
 for the reader, who depends on such scanty information, to 
 see the subject in it's true light. To remedy this defect, it 
 is therefore thought of importance to transcribe the whole 
 passage, from which Mr. Pike has drawn his partial and un- 
 justifiable remarks. It is to be found in the work, entitled. 
 True Christian Religion, and is as follows. 
 
 " That the Mahometan religion is received more gene- 
 rally throughout the world than the Christian religion, may 
 be matter of stumbling and offence to those, who busy their 
 thoughts about the divine providence, and at the same time 
 believe that none can be saved except such as are born 
 Christians : whereas this is no matter of offence to those, who 
 believe that all things are under the regulation of divine pro- 
 vidence ; for they trace the footsteps of that providence on 
 this occasion, and likewise discover the wisdom and good- 
 ness thereof in this circumstance, that the Mahometan reli- 
 gion acknowledgeth the Lord to be the greatest and wisest of 
 
 prophets. 
 
208 A VINDiCATION OF 
 
 propliets, and also to be the Son of God. But whereas they 
 have made the Alcoran alone the rule and standard of their 
 religion, and consequently think nuich about Mahomet who 
 wrote it, and pay Lim a kind of worship, therefore they think 
 little about our Lord. In order to shew more plainly and 
 fully that the Mahometan religion, both in it's rise and pro- 
 gress, was under the guidance of the divine providence of 
 the Lord, I shall enter into a more particular consideration 
 of the subject, adverting first to the origin of idolatries. 
 Before the rise of Mahometanism, idolatrous worship was 
 spread through most countries of the terraqueous globe ; the 
 ground and reason whereof was, because the churches ex- 
 tant before the Lord's coming were all representative 
 churches ; such also was the Israelitish church, wherein 
 the tabernacle, the garments of Aaron, the sacrifices, all 
 things belonging to the temple at Jerusalem, and even their 
 statutes, were representative. Amongst the ancients also 
 the science of correspondences, which is likewise the science 
 of representatives, was accounted the chief of sciences, and 
 was particularly cultivated by the Egyptians, being the true 
 ground and rise of their hieroglyphics. By virtue of this 
 science they knew what was signified by animals and plants 
 of every kind, and what likewise by mountains, hills, rivers, 
 and fountains ; what also by the sun, the moon, and the stars. 
 By the same science they attained besides to the knowledge 
 of spiritual things, inasmuch as the things represented, be- 
 ing such as have relation to spiritual wisdom amongst the 
 angels in heaven, were the originals of the things represen- 
 tative. Now whereas their worship was representative, con- 
 sisting of mere correspondences, therefore they performed it 
 on mountains and hills, and likewise in groves and gardens ; 
 and for this reason they consecrated fountains, and made 
 graven images of horses, oxen, calves, lambs, nay even of 
 birds, fishes, and serpents, and placed them near their tem- 
 ples, and at the entrance into their temples, and also in their 
 houses, in exact order according to the spiritual things of 
 the church with which they corresponded, or which they re- 
 presented. 
 
EMANUEL SWEDENBORG*S WRITINGS. 209 
 
 presented, and thereby signified. In process of time, when 
 the science of correspondences was obliterated, posterity be- 
 gan to worship those graven images as if possessed of some 
 essential holiness in themselves, not aware that their fore- 
 fathers saw nothing holy in them, but regarded them only as 
 representative of holy things according to correspondences. 
 Hence originated all the idolatries, which have prevailed 
 throughout so many kingdoms of the earth. In order to ex- 
 tirpate these idolatries, it was brought to pass of the divine 
 providence of the Lord, that a new religion, accommodated 
 to the genius and temper of the eastern nations, should be 
 taught and propagated, which religion should have some re- 
 spect to both the Old and New Testaments, and which would 
 teach, that the Lord came into the world, and that he was 
 the greatest and wisest of all prophets, and the Son of God . 
 This was effected by Mahomet, from whom that religion took 
 it's name. Hence it appears, that this religion owed it's rise 
 to the divine providence of the Lord, and was accommo- 
 dated, as was said, to the genius and temper of the eastern 
 nations, with a view to destroy the idolatries that so gene- 
 rally prevailed, and communicate to it's votaries some know- 
 ledge concerning the Lord, before they came after death into 
 the spiritual world. This religion would not have been re- 
 ceived by so many kingdoms, and consequently would have 
 had no power to extirpate idolatries therein, unless it had 
 been made suitable to the ideas of the people, particularly 
 unless it had allowed of polygamy, because tl)e eastern na- 
 tions, without such allowance, would have burned with adul- 
 terous lust more than the Europeans, and by the indulgence 
 of that lust would have destroyed themselves eternally." Tr. 
 Chr. Rel. 833. 
 
 2. THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN MERE SENSUAL GRATI- 
 FICATIONS, AND THE PURE JOYS OF HEAVEN. 
 
 Connected with this subject is another charge, equally 
 destitute of foundation, which Mr. Pike brings against the 
 
 D d Baron, 
 
210 A VINDtCATION OF 
 
 Baron, and his description of tlie joys of heaven. He re- 
 presents him, p. 30, as saying with Mahomet, that the de- 
 lights and pleasures of the heavenly life consist in the grati- 
 fication of the outward senses, in reposing on silken couches 
 interwoven with gold, in eating of the fruits of an external 
 paradise, and in the enjoyment of beautiful damsels, whose 
 bewitching eyes are calculated to captivate the beholder, and 
 to lull him into their embraces by all the blandishments of 
 sensual love. But he forgets, or perhaps never gave himself 
 the trouble to examine, the wide distinction, which Sweden- 
 borg has every where insisted upon, between the external 
 enjoyments proceeding from a pure and chaste state of the 
 spirit, and those which originate in the bodily senses. The 
 pleasures of heaven, according to the Baron, are both inter- 
 nal and external, the latter depending altogether upon the 
 former : whereas witli the Arabian prophet all the delights 
 of life are to be found in the external separate from the in- 
 ternal, in the mere acts of eating and drinking, in gazing 
 with the eye on the glittering scenes of paradise, in listening 
 with the ear to the ravishing sounds of music, and in the in- 
 dulgence of every gross, sensual, and carnal appetite. The 
 true nature of the joys of heaven is amply described by Baron 
 Swedenborg in his ti*eatise on Heaven and Hell, from which 
 the following extracts are made, to shew that Mr. Pike has 
 done him great injustice in assimilating his account of future 
 happiness to that given by the impure and voluptuous Ma- 
 homet. 
 
 " Heaven is so constituted as to abound with pleasures, 
 insomuch that, considered in itself, it is an aggregate of bea- 
 titudes and delights ; and that because divine good, proceed- 
 ing from the divine love of the Lord, constitutes heaven both 
 in general and in particular, in every one there." H. ^ H. 
 397. 
 
 " The delights of heaven are unutterable, and they are 
 also innumerable : but innumerable as they are, no man, that 
 is absorbed in carnal and sensual gratifications, can have the 
 least notiou of any one of them, and that because his interiors 
 
 are 
 
EMANUEL SWEDENBORG's WRITINGS. 211 
 
 are turned backward from heaven to the world, and conse- 
 quently, being immersed in the iove of self and of the world, 
 he is incapable of taking delight in any thing but in honours, 
 riches, and the pleasures of the bodily senses, which yet so 
 far extinguish and suffocate all the interior delights of hea- 
 ven, as to render their reality incredible." H. &" H. 398. 
 
 " Something of an estimate may be made of the super- 
 lative felicity of heaven from this single consideration, that it 
 is the delight of all who are there to communicate their joys 
 and beatitudes to one another ; and as all of them are like- 
 minded in this matter, it is evident how immense the delight 
 of heaven must be, since there is a mutual communication 
 between one iind all, resulting from the two-fold love that 
 prevails there, viz. love to the Lord, and love towards their 
 neighbour." H. & H. 399. 
 
 •' All the delights of heaven are connected with and in- 
 separable from uses, these being the good fruits of love and 
 charity in the angels ; and according to the quality of the 
 uses, and their alacrity to perform them, is the degree of 
 their joy." H. &; H. 402. 
 
 ** Certain spirits, from a notion they had entertained in 
 this world, fansied that the happiness of heaven consisted in 
 a life of ease and indolence, and being served in all things 
 by others. But it was told them, that no society could sub- 
 sist happily in such a state, and that where all were to be 
 served, there could not be any to serve : moreover that a life 
 of idleness would render them stupid and good for nothing ; 
 that action was essential to felicity, and rest only the means 
 of fitting them the better for it. They were likewise given 
 to understand, that the life of angels principally consisted in 
 doing offices of love and use, and that it was their highest 
 delight to be so employed : and then, to make them ashamed 
 of so absurd a notion, as that of happiness in heaven con- 
 sisting in everlasting indolence, there was given them a per- 
 ception of such a state, by which it appeared to them most 
 irksome and melancholy, and such as would not only be de- 
 
 D d 2 structive 
 
212 r . A VINDICATION OF 
 
 struct! ve of every joy, but iu a little time be attended with 
 disgust and loathing." H. ^ H. 403. 
 
 " Some spirits, who thought themselves wiser than their 
 fellows, had conceived an opinion in this world, that heavenly 
 joy consisted altogether in praising and worshipping God, 
 and that this constituted active life. But it was told them 
 this was not the case, and that God needed not their praises 
 and worship, but willed rather that they should be employed 
 in perlonaing offices of use and love to one another. This 
 however they considered more as a task of servitude, than 
 true happiness, although the angels assured them, that it was 
 a most free aud delightful employment, as proceeding from 
 the most affectionate good-will, and executed with unspeak- 
 able pleasure." H. &; JI. 404. 
 
 " All who are in heaven, continue in their progress 
 towards the flower and perfection of life ; and the more thou- 
 sands of years they pass, the more delightfully and happily 
 they advance in an eternal progression, according to their pro- 
 ficiency in love, charity, and faith. There such of the female 
 sex, as had departed this life broken with the infirmities of 
 old age, but had lived in faith to the Lord, in charity towards 
 their neighbour, and in all the duties of coujugial afiection, 
 after a succession of ages appear as advancing towards per- 
 fection in the bloom of youthful beauty surpassing description; 
 whilst goodness and charity add graces to their persons, and 
 express themselves in every feature of their faces, insomuch 
 that they may be considered as very forms of charity. In a 
 word, to grow old in heaven is to grow in youth and beauty, 
 as is the case with all those who have here lived in love to 
 the Lord, and in charity towards their neighbour. Such 
 forms are all the angels, though with unspeakable distinctioii 
 and variety." H. ^ H. 414. 
 
 SECTION 
 
EMANUEL SWEDENBORG's WRITINGS. 213 
 
 SECTION XVI. 
 
 Purgatory . — 2. Vastation in the other Life. — 3. 
 The intermediate State and Place between Hefiven 
 and Hell, called the World of Spirit^. 
 
 1. PURGATORY. 
 
 Ml 
 
 . R.Pike again betrays his ignorance of the subjects he so 
 freely undertakes to discuss. He charges Swedenborg with 
 maintaining the doctrine of purgatory in common with the 
 Roman Catholics, and denies that the Scriptures make men- 
 tion of any intermediate state or place between heaven and 
 hell. " Nothing (says he, p. 31,) can be much more calcu- 
 lated to encourage mankind to persevere in their iniquities, 
 than a belief, that if they should not be prepared for heaven 
 at death, they may have their sins forgiven, and their souls 
 prepared for happiness, in the other world. Yet such is 
 the doctrine of purgatory among the Papists ; and such, 
 under the name of vastation, is that of Swedenborg." He 
 also asserts, p. 32, that " the Word of God gives not the 
 slightest intimation of a middle state," or world of spirits, 
 but only of " heaven as the abode of those who die in the 
 Lord, and hell as the abode of those who die in sin." That 
 he has dealt unjustly with the Baron in representing his 
 doctrine of vastation as similar to that of the Popish pur- 
 gatory, and that he has also overlooked those numerous parts 
 of the Sacred Scriptures, which treat of an intermediate state 
 between heaven and hell, will now be made to appear by the 
 most direct testimonies. 
 
 After speaking of the gross abuses, which are practised 
 by the Romish clergy, in reference to dispensations, indul- 
 l^ences, and promises of heavenly happiness to those who 
 
 enrich 
 
214 A VINDICATION OF 
 
 enrich monasteries, and increase their treasures, the Baron 
 proceeds to observe as follows. " In particular they are 
 watchful to impose upon the rich when they are sick, and 
 also on such occasions infuse terror in regard to hell, and so 
 extort money from them, promising' sacrifices of the mass for 
 their souls in proportion to the value of legacies, and by this 
 means successive exemption from the place of torment, which 
 they call Purgatory, and thus admission into heaven. As to 
 what relates to purgatory, I can aver, that it is a Babylonian 
 Jiction invented for the sake of gain, and that no such place 
 does or can exist. Every man after death comes first into the 
 world of spirits, which is in the middle between heaven and 
 bell, and is there prepared either for heaven or for hell, 
 every one according to the life he had led in the world: and 
 in that world no one is tormented, but the wicked then first 
 come into torment, when after preparation they go to hell. 
 There are in that world innumerable societies, and in them 
 enjoyments similar to those upon earth, by reason that the 
 spirits therein are connected with men upon earth, who are 
 likewise in the middle between heaven and hell. The ex- 
 ternals of such spirits are successively put off, and so their 
 internals are disclosed and unfolded, and this till such time 
 as the ruling love, which being the life's love is the inmost, 
 and governs the externals, discovers itself; and this being 
 discovered, it appears what is the quality of the man ; and 
 according to the quality of his ruling love, he is sent from 
 the world of spirits to his own place, if he be good to his 
 place in heaven, and if bad to his place in hell. That this 
 is the case, it hath been given me to know of a certainty, 
 because it hath been granted me by the Lord to be with 
 those who are in that world, and to see every thing, and so 
 to relate this from actual experience, and this now for the 
 space of twenty years. (*) Wherefore I can aver, that 
 purgatory is a Jiction, which may be called a diabolical one, 
 
 because 
 
 (^*) It appears, that the author lived about eight or nine years after writing 
 the above, and that the privilege of conversing with spirits and angels contimied 
 with him to the last. 
 
EMAHUEL SV/EDENBORG's WRITINGS. 215 
 
 because it was invented for the sake of lucre, and for the 
 sake of exercising power over the souls, even of the deceased, 
 after death." Apoc. Rev. 784. 
 
 2. VASTATION IN THE OTHER LIFE. 
 
 The author having thus so expressly disclaimed and de- 
 nounced the doctrine of a Popish purgatory, as a wicked 
 invention of the priests to establish a kind of dominion not 
 only over the property, but even over the souls of their mis- 
 guided and infatuated adherents, it is but justice to allow 
 him to give his own account of what he calls Vastation, 
 which is the defecation or purification of the good and pious 
 from the many errors and infirmities incident to their con- 
 dition in this life, in order that they may be more fully pre- 
 pared to enter into consociation with angels, and thus into 
 the perfect enjoyment of heavenly happiness. 
 
 " There are many persons, who, during their abode in 
 the world, through simplicity and ignorance, have imbibed 
 falses as to faith, and have formed a certain species of con- 
 science according to the pi'inciples of their faith, and have 
 not, like others, lived in hatreds, revenges, and adulteries ; 
 these in another life, so long as they are principled in what 
 is false, cannot be introduced into the heavenly societies, 
 lest they should defile them ; and therefore they are kept for 
 a certain time in the lower earth, in order that they may put 
 off the principles of the false. The times of their con- 
 tinuance there are longer or shorter according to the nature 
 of the false, and the life contracted thereby, and according 
 to the principles which such persons have confirmed in them- 
 selves. Some endure in that state a sufficient degree of 
 hardship, whilst others experience nothing of the kind. (*) 
 These states are what are called vastations, whereof much 
 
 mention 
 
 (*) This last sentence, on which Mr. Pike appears to lay great stress, is 
 somewhat varied from the tianslation in Arcana Calestia, with a view to render it 
 more conformable to the ori^oal, which rons thus : " Quidam ibi satis dura pa- 
 tiiathtrt quidam nen dura," 
 
^16 A VINDICATION OF 
 
 mention is made in the Word. When the time of vastatioBf 
 is over, tiiey are taken up into heaven, and are instructed in 
 the truths of faith." Arc. Ccel. Ii0(>. 
 
 Such in few words is the account, which Baron Sweden- 
 borg gives of vastations in the spiritual world, whereby num- 
 bers of upright and conscientious persons are divested of 
 those worldly and terrestrial things, which do not accord 
 with the angelic life. For it is scarcely to be supposed, that 
 many men are to be found, besides Mr. Pike, who are so 
 perfectly satisfied with their spiritual attainments, and free^ 
 dom from errors and impurities of various kinds, as to think 
 themselves in all respects qualified for an immediate entrance 
 into the kingdom of heaven, and that at the hour of death 
 they shall have nothing to do but to take their seats at once 
 among blessed angels, and the spirits of just men made perfect. 
 On the other hand, the process of vastation also takes place 
 with the wicked, before they are in all respects prepared for 
 hell : but in their case vastation is the divesting or depriving 
 them of whatever external or apparent good and truth they 
 might possess, in consequence of former hypocritical habits, 
 until being reduced both internally and externally to a full 
 conformity with the ruling evil adopted in the world, they 
 are at length consigned to their final abodes of misery and 
 despair. These states of vastation, or full preparation for 
 heaven and for hell, respectively, are plainly alluded to by the 
 Lord, where he says, " Unto every one that hath shall he 
 given, and he shall have abundance : but from him that hath 
 not, shall he taken away even that which he hath" Matt, 
 sxv. 29. 
 
 The common opinion, therefore, that man after death 
 is either immediately raised to heaven, or immediately cast 
 down to hell, without any intervening process of justice or 
 open manifestation of his internal life, is not only most un- 
 reasonable in- itself, but plainly repugnant to the Sacred 
 Scriptures, which further declare, that " there is nothing 
 covered, which shall not be revealed; neither hid, which 
 shall not be known : therefore, whatsoever ye have spoken in 
 
 darkness. 
 
EMANUEL SWEDENBORg's WRITINGS. 2l7 
 
 darkness, shall be heard in the light ; and that which ye have 
 spoken in the ear in closets, shall be proclaimed upon the 
 house-tops" Luke xii. 2, 3. Matt. x. 26. Mark iv. 22. 
 
 With respect to the places of vastation in the spiritual 
 world, they are repeatedly spoken of in the Word umler the 
 names of the loxver earth, the pit, the prison, the land of 
 the shadoio of death, &c. which, though situated near the 
 hells, are perfectly distinct from them. The lower earth is 
 that portion of the world of spirits, or intermediate state, 
 which is immediately under the feet of those who are in that 
 world : the pit is under the lower earth, each of m hich is a 
 kind of prison, or place of temporary captivity, until their 
 inhabitants are prepared for elevation into heaven : and the 
 hells are under and surrounding the whole. These facts, 
 which are asserted by Swedenborg-, are proved by the follow- 
 ing passages from the Word itself. 
 
 Isa. xiv. 15, 19. " Thou shalt be brought down to hell, 
 to the sides of the pit. Thou art cast out of thy grave, like 
 an abominable branch ; and as the raiment of those that are 
 slain, thrust through with a sword, that go down to the 
 stones of the pit, as a carcase trodden under foot." Here 
 hell is the place of the damned ; the pit is where they who 
 are in falses are to be vastated ; stones are the borders or 
 terminations, which are also called sides, because round 
 about the pits are the hells ; and the whole is represented ta 
 be under foot. 
 
 Isa. xxiv. 22. " They shall be gathered together, as 
 prisoners are gathered in the pit, and shall be shut up in the 
 prison, and after many days shall they be visited." The 
 prisoners in the pit are they who are undergoing vastation or 
 temptation ; of whom it is said, that after many days they 
 shall be visited, that is, released and comforted. 
 
 Isa. xlii, 6, 7. " I Jehovah will give thee for a covenant 
 of the people, for a light of the gentiles, to open the blind 
 eyes, to bring out the prisoners from the prison, and them 
 that sit in darkness out of the prison-house." This passage 
 
 E e alludes 
 
218 A VINDICATION Of 
 
 alludes to the coming of the Lord, when he liberated thos0 
 in the spiritual world, who were in the lower earth, and in 
 the pits or prison-houses adjoining it, in states of vastation. 
 Peter, in his first Epistle, also says, that the Lord after his 
 crucifixion " went and preached unto the spirits in prison, 
 which sometime were disobedient, when once the long-suffer- 
 ing of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was 
 preparing," chap. iii. 19, 20. Now if he preached unto 
 those spirits, he must have instructed them in such truths as 
 they were ignorant of, and thus opened the eyes of their 
 understandings, which were before involved in spiritual dark- 
 ness, or in ignorance of divine things. 
 
 Tsa. xliv. 23. " Sing, O ye heavens, for Jehovah hath 
 done it ; shout, ye lower parts of the earth ; break forth into 
 singing, ye mountains, O forest, and -every tree therein ; 
 for Jehovah hath redeemed Jacob, and glorified himself in 
 Israel." The redemption, which the Lord accomplished 
 while on earth, extended to those who were in the lower 
 parts of the earth in the spiritual world ; and therefore the 
 heavens, the earth, the mountains, forests, and trees, by 
 which is meant the spiritual church at large, internal and 
 external, are called upon to rejoice, and celebrate the event. 
 
 Isa. xlix. 9. "I will give thee for a covenant of the 
 people, that thou mayst say to the prisoners, Go forth ; to 
 them that are in darkness, Shew yourselves." Still alluding 
 to those who were detained as prisoners in the lower parts of 
 the world of spirits, until liberated by the Lord at the time 
 of his coming. They are called upon to go forth, and shew 
 themselves : for heretofore they had been reputed as dead, 
 and lying in graves, because they had their dwelling under 
 the earth, and were concealed from the view of those who 
 were in the world of spirits. It is therefore in another place 
 written, " Thy dead men shall live, together with my dead 
 hody shall they arise : awake and sing, ye that dwell in dust," 
 Isa. xxvi. 19. And in reference to the same circumstance 
 it is said in the Gospel, that " the graves were opened, and 
 
 many 
 
EMANUEL SWEDENBORg's WRITINGS. 219 
 
 inany bodies of saints which slept arose, and came out of the 
 graves after the Lord's resurrection, and went into the holy 
 city, and appeared tinto many" Matt, xxvii. 52, 53. 
 
 Isa. li. 14. " The captive exile hasteneth that he may 
 be loosed, and that he should not die in the pit, nor that 
 his bread should fail." 
 
 Isa. Ixi. 1. " The spirit of the Lord Jehovih is upon 
 me, because Jehovah hath anointed me to preach good 
 tidings unto the meek, he hath sent me to hind up the broken- 
 hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening 
 of the prison to them that are bound." 
 
 Ezek. xxvi. 20. " I will bring thee down with them that 
 descend into the pit, with the people of old time, and will 
 set thee in the low parts of the earth, in places desolate of 
 old, with them that go down to the pit." The low parts of 
 the earth are here called desolate places, because they are 
 places of vastation ; and they are said to be of old, because 
 they were appointed for the reception and temporary abode 
 of those, who from the times of Noah, until the coming of 
 the Lord, were preserved, that a spiritual church might be 
 formed of them in the spiritual world, agreeably to the testi- 
 mony of Peter above quoted, and to that of Paul, where he 
 says, " Now that he (Christ) ascended, what is it but that 
 he also descended frst into the lower parts of the earth r' 
 Eph. iv. 9. 
 
 Ezek. xxxi. 14, 16. " They are all delivered unto death, 
 to the nether parts of the earth, in the midst of the children 
 of men, with them that go down to the pit. I made the 
 nations to shake at the sound of his fall, when I cast him 
 down to hell with them that descend into the 2Jit : and all the 
 trees of Eden, the choice and best of Lebanon, all that 
 drink water, shall be comforted in the nether parts of the 
 earth." Mention is 'here made of the nether parts of the 
 earth, of the pit, and of hell, thus distinguishing the places 
 of vastation from the hells which surround them. And of 
 the persdiis represented by the trees of Eden, &c. who 
 
 E e 2 are 
 
220 A VINDICATION OF 
 
 are in a state of vastation, it is said, that they are to be 
 comforted. 
 
 Zech. ix. 11, 12. " As for thee also, by the blood of 
 thy covenant, I have sent forth thy prisoners out of the pit, 
 wherein is no water : turn ye to the strong-hold, ye prisoners 
 of hope."" Surely these prisoners of hope, who were to be 
 released from the pit, were not in hell, where hope never 
 comes, but in places contiguous to it, for the purpose of 
 being vastated, or, what is the same thing, of being divested 
 of those false principles, which they had carried with them 
 from the natural world, and which for a season prevented 
 their reception of divine truths. Hence the place, where 
 they were confined, is called a pit without water, denoting a 
 state void of truth, for such is the signification of water in 
 the Word. 
 
 Ps. cvii. 18, 19, 20. " They draw near unto the gates 
 of death : then they cry unto Jehovah in their trouble ; he 
 saveth them out of their distresses : he sent his Word, and 
 healed them, and delivered them from their destructions 
 (their pits).'' The pits here spoken of (for so the same word 
 in the original is rendered in Ps. xciv. 13. Ezek. xix. 4, 8.) 
 are places of vastation near the gates of death, that is, near 
 hell, but not in it ; and to be delivered out of those pits, is 
 to be delivered from false and unclean principles. 
 
 Matt. XV. 14. Luke vi. 39. " Let them alone : they be 
 blind leaders of the blind : and if the blind lead the blind, 
 both shall fall into the ditch.'' Here the ditch is mentioned 
 instead of the pit ; but both signify the same thing, viz. a 
 state of gross error and falsehood, out of which the ignorant 
 may in due time be delivered, if they had previously cherish- 
 ed a spirit of integrity according to the best of their judg- 
 ment : otherwise not. 
 
 Apoc. V. 13. " And every creature which is in heaven, 
 and on the earth, and under the earth, and such as are in 
 the sea, and all that are in them, heard I, saying, Blessing, 
 and honour, and glory, and power, be unto him ftat sitteth 
 
 upon 
 
EMANUEL SWEDENBORGS WRITINGS. 
 
 221 
 
 upon the throne, and unto the Lamb, for ever and ever." 
 The lower parts of the spiritual world are here meant by the 
 phrase, under the earth ; for it is plain, that the natural 
 world is not alluded to, since men do not in this world dwell 
 under the earth. 
 
 Apoc. vi. 9. " I saw under the altar the souls of them 
 that were slain for the word of God, and for tlie testimony 
 which tliey held." The place, where these souls were seen, 
 was in the lower earth of the spiritual world ; and they are 
 said to be under the altar, because they worshipped the Lord, 
 and were preserved by him until the time of their elevation 
 into heaven. 
 
 Besides the passages here adduced from the Sacred 
 Scriptures, there are many others which make mention of 
 th^ lower earth, the pit, (and sometimes the bottomless pit ^ 
 which is hell,) the jxrison, prisoners, the land of the shadow 
 of death, the dioellers in dust, &c. &c. and among them the 
 
 following. 
 
 Isa. is.. 2. 
 
 Isa. X. 4. 
 
 Isa. xxxviii. 17, 18. 
 
 Isa. Ixi. 1. 
 
 Ezek. xxviii. 8. 
 
 Ezek. xxxii. 18, 23 to 32. 
 
 Jonah ii. 6. 
 
 Ps. xxviii. 1. 
 
 Ps. XXX. 3. 
 Ps. xl. 2. 
 Ps. Iv. 23. 
 Ps. Ixiii. 9. 
 Ps. Ixix. 15, 33. 
 Ps. Ixxix. 11. 
 Ps. Ixxxviii. 4, 6. 
 Ps. cii. 20. 
 
 Ps. cxix. 85. 
 Ps. cxxxix. 15. 
 Ps. cxliii. 7. 
 Ps. cxlvi. 7. 
 Jub xxxiii. 24. 
 Prov. i. 12. 
 Eph. iv. 9. 
 1 Pet. iii. 19, 20. 
 
 After the production of these numerous testimonies from 
 the Holy Word, and from other writings in agreement with it, 
 of the actual existence of places for the reception of deceased 
 men not yet prepared for introduction into heaven, in con- 
 sequence either of their ignorance, their errors, or their na- 
 tural frailties, will Mr. Pike still persist in asserting, that 
 the Oracles of divine truth give no intimation whatever of 
 any other state of being after death, than that of absolute 
 perfection in heaven, or that of hopeless despair in hell ? 
 Will he still continue to deny, in the face of revealed truth, 
 and in opposition to the express words of the apostle Peter, 
 confirmed by the apostle Paul, that certain spirits were de- 
 tained 
 
222 A VINDICATION OF 
 
 tained as prisoners in the lower parts of the earth, even from 
 the time of Noah till the coming- of the Lord in the flesh, 
 when he went and preached redemption and salvation to 
 them? Or does he imagine, that the wild rhapsodies, which 
 he has uttered against a man in every respect his superior, 
 and against a doctrine so plainly inculcated in the Scriptures 
 as that under consideration, are to be accepted by the reader 
 for argument, when they have neither reason, truth, nor jus- 
 tice to recommend them? The fact is, that Mr. Pike was 
 determinded to write something against Baron Swedenborg, 
 and against the doctrines of the New Church, which appear 
 to be gaining ground in the town of Derby, where he resides, 
 and where two respectable temples or places of worship for 
 the readers of those doctrines have been lately erected. 
 Fear, probably, lest some of his own flock should take it 
 into their heads to stray from their old parched-up sheep-walk, 
 and look for better pasture in some neighbouring meadow, 
 may have had it's full share in drawing his attention to the 
 subject ; and having procured a sight of two or three of the 
 Baron's works, but deeming them (according to his own ac- 
 count J unworthy of his attentive perusal, he has dipped here 
 and there into several of their pages, and finding such un- 
 usual terms as vastation, middle state, world of spirits, spi- 
 ritual world, &c. &c. he has immediately dashed upon them, 
 and held them up to ridicule, without giving himself a mo- 
 ment to reflect, that by so doing he was actually impeach- 
 ing, denying, and blaspheming the Divine Word, which dis- 
 tinctly authorizes their use. 
 
 3. THE INTERMEDIATE STATE, OR WORLD OF SPIRITS, 
 
 The doctrine of an intermediate state and place between 
 heaven and hell being, however, with difficulty admitted by 
 many sincere and upright characters, particularly of the Pro- 
 testant persuasion, it is considered adviseable, for the sake 
 of these, to add a few more observations on tlfe subject, 
 and to confirm the truth of the doctrine by a further appe^ 
 
 to 
 
EMANUEL SWEDENBORG S WRITINGS. 223 
 
 to the Sacred Scriptures. But first of all, let the terms 
 made use of be defined. The spiritual world is the general 
 abode of all spiritual beings, whether good, evil, or of a 
 mixed quality : consequently it includes heaven, hell, and 
 the world of spirits, or intermediate state and place between 
 both. Heaven is the eternal residence of angels, in other 
 words, of deceased men made perfect and happy in their 
 several degrees. Hell is the eternal abode of devils, in 
 other words, of deceased men also, who by a life of wicked- 
 ness have plunged themselves into the depths of imperfec- 
 tion and misery, according to their several states and de- 
 grees of evil. And the world of spirits, or intermediate 
 state and place between heaven and hell, is tbe temporary 
 abode of such deceased men as, being partly in good and 
 truth, and partly in evil and falsehood, are not yet fully 
 prepared for either, but are undergoing the process of vas- 
 tation and instruction, which will finally terminate in the ele- 
 vation of some into heaven, and the depression of others into 
 hell, each according to the ruling love which he had pre- 
 viously formed in himself during his abode in the natural 
 world. To this intermediate world of spirits may be referred 
 those pits, prisons, and habitations in the lower earth, which 
 have been already spoken of in the preceding pages. 
 
 The world of spirits, then, to which we are now more 
 particularly about to call the attention of the reader, is that 
 world into which every man passes immediately on the death 
 of the body. That there must be, in the nature of things, 
 such an intermediate state and place, is plain from a due 
 consideration of what it is that constitutes heaven, and what 
 hell ; and how rare and uncommon it is for either of those 
 states to be perfected in the present life. Now as good and 
 truth, together with their conjunction in man, constitute 
 heaven both within him and without him ; and as, on the 
 other hand, evil and falsehood, together with their conjunc- 
 tion in man, constitute hell both within him and without him ; 
 and yet neither of these two opposite states can be supposed 
 •to be completed in this life, every man (with few exceptions, 
 
 if 
 
224 A VINDICATION OF 
 
 if any,) being partly in good and truth, and partly in evil 
 and falsehood ; it therefore necessarily follows, that man dy- 
 ing in this mixed state is, on his first entrance into another 
 life, neither fully prepared for heaven, nor fully prepared for 
 hell, but stands as it were in the mid-way between both. 
 
 The good and virtuous, or they in whom the love of 
 good predominates over the love of evil, are then, by means 
 of instruction suited to the capacity and peculiar disposition 
 of each, by degrees delivered from the various imperfec- 
 tions, infirmities, and errors, which adhered to them in their 
 natural state ; and are thus prepared by the Lord for an ac- 
 tual entrance into some of the heavenly societies, wherein 
 they enjoy, in common with angels, all the happiness of 
 which their love and faith have rendered them susceptible. 
 But the wicked, or they in whom the love of evil predomi- 
 nates over the love of good, are gradually divested of the 
 real or apparent good and truth, which they may possess ; 
 and after being reduced both internally and externally to a 
 full conformity to those principles of evil, which they had 
 adopted in the world, they are consigned, or rather volun- 
 tarily betake themselves, to such of the infernal societies as 
 make one with their life, and with them experience all the 
 misery, which is inseparable from their ruling love, and their 
 delight in evil. 
 
 In addition to the many passages already cited in proof 
 of the actual existence of a middle state between heaven and 
 hell, which, for the sake of distinguishing it from other parts 
 of the spiritual world at large, is very properly called the 
 tvorld of spirits, as being the immediate or first receptacle 
 of departed souls, the following are worthy of being atten- 
 tively considered. 
 
 1 Sam. xxviii. 11 to 19. Samuel, after he was dead, 
 first appeared to a woman who had a familiar spirit, and 
 afterwards to Saul, whose spiritual eyes were opened on the 
 occasion : during which interview Samuel was neither in 
 heaven nor in hell, but in the world of spirits between both, 
 and probably in that part of it which is called the lower 
 
 earth ; 
 
EMANUEL SWEDENBORG's WRITINGS. 225 
 
 earth ; for the woman said, " I saw gods (or powerful beings) 
 ascending out of the earthy' ver. 13 : and again, she said, 
 " An old man (Samuel) comeih up, and he is covered with a 
 mantle," ver. 14. 
 
 2 Kings vi. 17. A mountain full of horses and chariots 
 of fire was seen in the world of spirits, or intermediate place 
 between heaven and hell, by Elisha's young man, but not till 
 his spiritual eyes were opened for the express purpose. 
 
 Ezekiel, chap. ii. iii. viii. ix. x. xxxvii. xl. xli. xlii, 
 xliii. xliv. xlvi. xlvii. In all these chapters the prophet 
 speaks of what he saw in vision, or in the world of spirits ; 
 but particularly in chap. viii. he states, that, while he was 
 in the spirit, he was lifted up betiveen the earth and the 
 heaven ; and in chap, xxxvii. that the spirit took him, and 
 set him down in the midst of a valley full of dry hones, 
 which afterwards received life. Now this valley was neither 
 in heaven, nor in hell, and yet it was in some part of the 
 spiritual world ; for the prophet expressly says, that he was 
 taken there in the spirit. Whence it clearly follows, that 
 there is an intermediate state and place between heaven and 
 hell, which being inhabited by spirits of a mixed quality, 
 not yet prepared either for the one or the other, is there- 
 fore called the ivorld of spirits. 
 
 Daniel, chap. vii. 3 to 8, being in spiritual vision, saw 
 four great beasts come up from the sea. He saw likewise, 
 chap. viii. 3 to 12, a ram and a he-goat, the former of which 
 prospered for a time, until the latter smote him, cast him to 
 the ground, and stamped upon him. And again, chap. xii. 
 7, being still in the vision of his spirit, he saw a man clothed 
 in linen, by the side of a river, who lifted up his right hand 
 and his left hand unto heaven ; and he heard him swear by 
 him that liveth for ever and ever. In each of these cases 
 Daniel himself was, as to his spirit, in the intermediate 
 world between heaven and hell ; and the various things, 
 which he then saw, were evidently in the same. 
 
 Zechariah, chap. i. ii. iii. iv. v. vi. In these chapters 
 Zechariah describes what he saw, when his spiritual eyes 
 
 F f were 
 
226 A VINDICATION OF 
 
 "^vere opened to discern the things of another life ; arrtono; 
 wlijch were a man (the angel of Jehovah) riding upon a red 
 horse, and standing among the myrtle-trees that were in the 
 bottom (in the shade) ; four horns, and four carpenters ; a 
 man with a measuring-line in his hand ; Joshua the high- 
 priest clothed with filthy garments, standing before the angel 
 of Jehovah, and Satan standing at his right hand to resist 
 h'ln ; a fair mitre afterwards })laced upon his head, and 
 change of raiment given unto him ; a golden candlestick, 
 and two olive-trees by it ; a flying roll; an ephah, with a 
 woman sitting in the midst of it, and a leaden weight on 
 it's mouth, the whole lifted up between the earth and heaven 
 by two women, who had wings like the wings of a stork; 
 and lastly four chariots coming out from between two moun- 
 tains of brass, with red, black, white, grisled, and bay 
 (strong) horses. 
 
 Luke xvi. 26. Abraham in heaven said to the rich man 
 in hell, " Between us and you there is a great gulf fixed." 
 This great gulf, or open space, is that intermediate state and 
 place between heaven and hell, called the world of spirits, of 
 which we are now speaking. 
 
 Matt, xxviii. Mark xvi. Luke xxiv. John xx. Chap, 
 xxi. By each of the Evangelists we are informed, that our 
 Lord, after his resurrection, was in a spiritual state joreuzows 
 to his ascension into heaven ; and that, while in this state, 
 he at different times appeared to his disciples, by opening 
 their spiritual eyes, and thereby enabling them to see his 
 person, now no longer material as before. Li the Acts of 
 the Apostles, chap. i. 3, we also read, that he continued no 
 less than forty days in that part of the spiritual world, which 
 lies between heaven and hell, and that at length he ascended 
 towards heaven, until a cloud received him out of their sight, 
 ver. 9. 
 
 Apoc. i. 10. Chap. iv. 1. Chap. vi. 9. Chap. vii. 1. 
 Chap. viii. 10. Chap. ix. 1, 2. Chap. x. 1, 2. Chap. xi. 12. 
 Chap. xii. 5. Chap. xiii. 1, 11. Chap. xvi. 16. Chap. xvii. 3. 
 Chap, xviii. 1. Chap. xix. 17 to 21. Chap. xx. 1, 2, 3, 7, 
 
 8, 
 
EMANUEL SWEDENBORG's WRITINGS. 227 
 
 8, 9. Chap. xxi. 10. From the passages here referred to, 
 and many others in the book of Revehition, the doctrine of 
 an intermediate state, place, or world, between heaven and 
 hell, is so plainly set forth, as to admit of no reasonable 
 doubt. For the apostle John first declares, that he was in 
 the spirit, or in spirliunl vision ; and then that he saw 
 heaven above him, and the bottomless pit beneath him : That 
 he saw a star fall from the one, and smoke ascend from 
 tlie other : That he saw the souls of martyrs under the altar, 
 who were not as yet elevated into heaven, but were to re- 
 main for a season in the place they then occupied, until the 
 number of their brethren should be fulfilled : That he saw 
 four angels standing on the four corners of the earth ; and 
 another angel standing with his right foot upon the sea, and 
 his left foot upon the earth, with his hand lifted up towards 
 heaven: That he saw a beast rise up out of the sea, and 
 another from the earth : That the name of one of the places 
 in the intermediate world is called in the Hebrew tongue 
 Armageddon, and is the seat of spiritual warfare between 
 the powers of heaven from above, and the powers of hell 
 from beneath : That he was carried in spirit to another place, 
 called the Wilderness, where the woman, who had brought 
 forth a man-child, and was persecuted by the dragon, was 
 to be nourished for a time, times, and half a time, from 
 tl»e face of the serpent ; and where also he saw another 
 woman sitting upon a scarlet-coloured beast, full of names 
 of blasphemy : That he saw an angel come down from heaven, 
 having the key of the bottondess pit, and a great chain in his 
 hand, who laid hold of the dragon, that old serpent which 
 is tlie devil and Satan, and cast him into the bottomless pit 
 for a thousand years; after which he was again to come out 
 of hell into the intermediate state and place, called the world 
 of spirits, where he would stir up a war against the saints, 
 lay siege to the beloved city, but, on the first attempt to 
 storm it, would be devoured by fire from heaven, and with 
 his partisans again cast into hell, there to be tormented for 
 ever and ever. Immediately after which great events John 
 
 F f 2 adds, 
 
228 A VINDICATION OF 
 
 adds, that the first heaven and the first earth, together with 
 the sea, passed away ; that a new heaven and a new earth 
 succeeded ; and that being carried in spirit to a great and 
 high mountain, he saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, com- 
 ing doicn from God out of heaven. (*) 
 
 After these abundant proofs from the Sacred Scriptures 
 of the actual existence of an intermediate state and place 
 between heaven and hell, the reader, it is presumed, must 
 be fully convinced of the rashness and futility of Mr. Pike's 
 assertions to the contrary ; since few doctrines of revelation 
 are more plainly taught, than that, against which he has 
 raised so loud an outcry. But some men " have eyes to see, 
 yet see not ; and ears to hear, yet hear not, neither do they 
 understand,'' Matt. xiii. 13. The prophet, who knew their 
 character and habits pretty well, says of them, " They are 
 drunken, but not with wine; they stagger, but not with strong 
 drink : for Jehovah hath poured out upon them the spirit of 
 deep sleep, and hath closed their eyes : the prophets and their 
 rulers, the seers hath he covered. And the vision of all is 
 become unto them as the words of a book that is sealed, 
 which men deliver to one that is learned, saying. Read this, 
 I pray thee; and he saith, / cannot, for it is sealed: and 
 the book is delivered to him that is not learned, saying, 
 Read this, I pray thee ; and he saith, I am not learned," 
 Isa. xxix. 9 to 12. So that, whether they be learned or un- 
 learned, whether they be teachers or pupils, they are still 
 blind, and deaf, and fat, and heavy, Isa. vi. 10 ; and in a 
 thousand instances the Word of divine truth is to them a 
 sealed book. 
 
 (*) See Compendium, p. 106 to 111. 
 
 SECTION 
 
EMANUEL SWEDENBORG's WRITINGS. 229 
 
 SECTION XVII. 
 
 The Place of Punishment, or Hell. — 2. Descrip- 
 tion of Hell, as a State. — 3. The Inhabitants of 
 Heaven, as well as of Hell, are all of the human 
 Race. — 4. Evil Spirits disturhing Heavxn. — 5. 
 The wicked go voluntarily to Hell, and infernal 
 Spirits have their Delights. — 6. Some are in Hell, 
 and yet do not kno?v they are there. 
 
 1. THE PLACE OF PUNISHMENT, OR HELL. 
 
 U NDER this general head Mr. Pike brings forward, p. 
 35, &c. a variety of objections, some of which have been 
 already answered in the preceding pages, and others are so 
 very silly and absurd, as to be unworthy of particular notice. 
 Of this latter description are the following, viz. That, ac- 
 cording to Swedenborg, hell is formed by self-love and the 
 love of the world. That it consists of myriads upon myriads 
 of spirits, being the common receptacle of all, who, since 
 the creation of the world, have alienated themselves from 
 God, by evils of life, and falses of faith. That some of 
 these have been and still are idolaters, some naturalists or 
 worshippers of nature, and some atheists. That the pleasures 
 of scortatory love descend even to the lowest hell, and join 
 themselves in the way thither, and there, with the pleasures 
 of all infernal loves. That the inhabitants of hell delight 
 in murder, stealing, whoring, blaspheming, and defrauding. 
 That all hell overflows with uncleannesses, and the universal 
 origin of them is immodest and obscene scortatory love. That 
 hell in the total is called adultery, and heaven in the total is 
 called marriage. 
 
 These 
 
230 A VINDICATION OF 
 
 These are some of the seiitiinents, which Baron SwexJeu- 
 borg Las expressed in regard to hell and it's inhabitants; and 
 as Mr. Pike holds them up to the contempt of his readers, it 
 is fair to conclude, that he is himself of a contrary opinion 
 on each point; that he believes, for example, that hell is not 
 formed by self-love and the love of the world ; that it is not 
 the receptacle of all, who, since the creation of the world, 
 have alienated themselves from God ; that there are no idola- 
 ters, naturalists, or atheists in bell ; that the pleasures of 
 adultery have no connection whatever with hell, and are not 
 of an infernal nature ; that the inhabitants of hell take no 
 delight in murder, stealing, whoring, blaspheming, and de- 
 frauding ; that hell is not a filthy and unclean place, by reason 
 of the lusts which prevail there ; and lastly that hell in the 
 total does not merit the appellation of adultery, nor does 
 heaven deserve the appellation of marriage !^ A pretty speci- 
 men truly of a Christian professor's faith, with respect to 
 heaven mid hell, the former of which is in the Word so 
 often compared to a marriage, while the latter is always 
 represented as the opposite to heaven. 
 
 2. DESCRIPTION OF HELL AS A STATE. 
 
 The Baron's account of hell, or the place of punish- 
 ment in the spiritual world, is in few words as follows. " As 
 love towards the Lord and our neighbour, together with the 
 joy and happiness therein originating, constitute heaven, so 
 hatred against the Lord and against our neighbom-, together 
 with the punishment and torment therein originating, con- 
 stitute hell. There are innumerable genera of hatreds, and 
 still more innumerable species ; and hence the hells are innu- 
 merable. As heaven, by means of mutual love, constitutes 
 as it were one man and one soul, and thus regards one end, 
 which is the preservation and salvation of all to eternity, io 
 on the other hand, hell formed from proprium by self-love 
 and the love of the world, that is, by hatred, constitutes one 
 devil and one mind, and thus regards one end, which is the 
 
 destruc- 
 
EMANUEL SWEDEN BORG's WRITINGS. 231 
 
 destruction and damnation of all to eternity. The torments 
 of the wicked in hell are such as cannot be described : for 
 the highest satisfaction of their life consists in being able to 
 punish, torture, and torment each other, which they do by 
 arts most unknown in the world, whereby they excite ex- 
 quisite.^ensations, just as if they were in the body, and also 
 direful and horrible phantasies, together with terrors and 
 • horroi's, and many more things of a similar kind. The 
 diabolical crew perceive so much pleasure herein, that, if it 
 were possible for them to increase and strain pangs and tor- 
 ments to infinity, they would not even then be satisfied, 
 but would still burn with desire to go beyond infinite. The 
 Lord however takes away their tendencies, and mitigates 
 their tonnents." Arc. Coel. 693 to 695. 
 
 From this extract Mr. Pike has selected the following 
 passage for animadversion : *' Hell formed from proprium by 
 self-love and the love of the world, that is, by hatred, con- 
 stitutes one devil and one mind.'^ In opposition to which he 
 remarks, p. 35, that " the Scriptures do not represent hell 
 as a devil or a mind, but as a place of torment." That hell 
 is a. place, as well as a state of mind, is admitted and con- 
 firmed by Swedenborg in many parts of his writings, par- 
 ticularly in his Triie Christian Religion, 123, as quoted by 
 Mr. Pike, where he calls it " the common receptacle of all, 
 who, since the creation of the world, have alienated them- 
 selves from God : " but that the same term is also used in 
 the Scriptures to denote one form, one devil, one mind, and 
 the principle of evil in general, is plain from the following 
 passages. 
 
 Isa. xiv. 9. " Hell from beneath is moved for thee to 
 meet thee at thy coming." This cannot with propriety be 
 said of hell as a place, but as an assemblage of devils or evil 
 spirits, who are combined together as one form, one devil, 
 and one mind, to seduce and to destroy. 
 
 Isa. xxviii. 15. " We have made a covenant with 
 death, and with hell we are at agreement." Here again a 
 compact or agTeement Ls said to be made with hell, surely 
 
 not 
 
232 A VINDICATION OF 
 
 not as a place, but as a collection of evil spirits, who uniting' 
 together in one body, and having one end or aim, may be 
 regarded as one monstrous form, animated by one and the 
 same malevolent intention or mind. 
 
 Jonah ii. 1, 2. " Jonah prayed unto Jehovah his God 
 out of the fisKs belly, and said, I cried by reason of mine 
 affliction unto Jehovah, and he heard me ; out of the belly 
 of hell cried I, and thou heardst my voice." Hell is here 
 represented as one living form, and that the form of a.fsh, 
 out of whose belly Jonah cried. It is elsewhere described 
 as a serpent, a dragon, a ivild beast, &c. &c. 
 
 Matt, xxiii. 15. " Wo unto you, Scribes and Pharisees, 
 hypocrites, for ye compass sea and laud to make one pro- 
 selyte, and when he is made, ye make him twofold more the 
 child of hell than yourselves." A child of hell is not the 
 child or offspring of a place, but one who is confirmed in the 
 principle of evil by actual life. Hence the Jews are de- 
 scribed as children of the devil, John viii. 44 ; the term 
 devil being frequently used to denote the same thing as hell, 
 viz. evil in general, together with all those spirits of dark- 
 ness, who are leagued together as one mind, for the purpose 
 of injuring and destroying others. For the same reason the 
 apostle Paul addressed Elymas the sorcerer, and said, " O 
 full of all subtiity, and all mischief, thou child of the devil, 
 thou enemy of all righteousness, wilt thou not cease to per- 
 vert the right ways of the Lord?" Acts xiii. 10. 
 
 Apoc. vi. 8. " I looked, and behold, a pale horse, and 
 his name that sat on him was Death, and hell followed with 
 him." Here death means the extinction of spiritual life, 
 and hell a state of damnation as the consequence thereof. 
 Place is one thing, state is another ; and the term hell seme- 
 times, but not always, implies both. 
 
 Apoc. XX. 14. " Death and hell were cast into the lake 
 of fire." If hell signified nothing more than a certain place 
 so called, as insisted upon by Mr. Pike, then it would follow 
 from the words here quoted, that hell was cast into hell! 
 which is a thing impossible. But when it is considered, that 
 
 by 
 
EMANUEL SWEDENBORGS WRITINGS. 233 
 
 by the terms death and hell are denoted the wicked and im- 
 pious in general, by death such as were interiorly in evils, 
 and therefore in reality devils, and by hell such as were in- 
 teriorly in falses, and therefore in reality satans, there is then 
 no difficulty whatever in comprehending what is meant by 
 death and hell being cast into the lake of fire. 
 
 Let the reader now compare these passages with Mr. 
 Pike's bold assertion, that the Scriptures do not represent 
 hell as a devil or a mind, but only as a place of punishment. 
 Hell is moved from beneath to meet a man at his coming ; an 
 agreement is entered into with hell ; the belly of a fish is 
 called the belly of hell ; a proselyte of the Scribes and Phari- 
 sees is called a child of hell ; death rides upon a pale horse, 
 and hell follows with him ; and lastly death and hell are both 
 cast into the lake of fire. None of these particulars accords 
 with the idea of hell as a mere place or inanimate locality ; 
 but they evidently imply a living agent, or an assemblage of 
 minds all acting under one common impulse, and bearing 
 one common name, as the legion of devils did, who, though 
 many in number, (perhaps no fewer than two thousand, as 
 they afterwards entered into so many swine,) are yet called 
 and addressed as only one unclean spirit, Mark v. 2, 8 to 13. 
 Luke viii. 29, 30. From these considerations then it plainly 
 follows, that the term hell, as used in the Sacred "Scriptures, 
 not only denotes a. place of punishment, but also the principle 
 of evil itself, which is the cause of punishment, together 
 with those in fertial spirits who combine together, as one mind 
 and one monster, to produce one end, the subversion of 
 order, and the destruction of all around them. 
 
 3. THE INHABITANTS OF HEAVEN, AS WELL AS OF HELL, 
 ARE ALL OF THE HUMAN RACE. 
 
 The doctrine maintained by Swedenborg from the ex- 
 press declarations and true sense of the Sacred Scriptures, 
 that angels and devils are of the human race, is again for the 
 third time assailed by Mr. Pike, who seems very unhappy 
 
 G g that 
 
234 A VINDICATION OF 
 
 that he should be placed so high in the scale of creation, aS 
 to be entitled to the privilege of calling an angel his brother! 
 Had the Baron set him down as a member of the family of 
 apes, monkeys, or baboons, he could not have manifested 
 more displeasure and resentment, than he has done for the 
 honour intended him. If however he prefer the life and 
 clothing of a worm (as by his hopes of the resurrection of the 
 gross material body there is some reason to suspect he does) 
 to the true dignity and glory of the angelic nature, with 
 which he was destined to be hereafter invested, in common 
 with other intelligent beings, then let him enjoy in silence 
 and stupidity the pleasure of his dream. But let him not 
 dash from the lips of others, more alive to the prospects of a 
 blessed immortality than himself, that cup of supreme felicity, 
 which the Divine Word, now opened and rationally under- 
 stood, presents to the acceptance of every faithful and believ- 
 ing Christian. To these latter I would address myself, and 
 say. Was not man created in the very image and likeness of 
 his God i And was not the breath of life, the two-fold life 
 of love and wisdom from the Deity himself, breathed into his 
 nostrils, so that he became a living soul ( Surely it was not 
 possible to endow an angel with higher privileges, with more 
 exalted honours, than these. To be more than an image and 
 likeness of God, is the same thing as being God: and to be 
 more than a living soul, or a form receptive of life from the 
 Lord, is the same thing as being life itself which is a charac- 
 ter that belongs exclusively to the Father and the Son, that 
 is, to the Essential Divinity and the Divine Humanity of the 
 Lord: see John v. 26. Chap. xi. 25. Chap. xiv. 6. How 
 then can it be supposed, that God created angels with higher 
 powers, capacities, and prerogatives, than those which he 
 originally bestowed on man, and which man is still capable 
 of enjoying in another life ; seeing it is a truth self-evident, 
 that God cannot create another being equal to himself? Now 
 if, as above stated, man be indeed an image and likeness of 
 God, and an angel is and can be no more, then it evidently 
 follows, that angels and men are of the same family and race. 
 
 But 
 
EMANUEL SWEDENBORG S WRITINGS. 235 
 
 But this subject having been already sufficiently dis- 
 cussed, and the identity of angels with men clearly demon- 
 strated from the Sacred Scripture^*, it remains now only to 
 advert to an objection urged by Mr, Pike from Matt. xxv. 
 31, 32, where it is said, that the Son of Man shall come in 
 his glory, attended by the holy angels, that then all nations 
 shall be gathered before him, and that he will separate the 
 sheep or the righteous from the goats. " If (says he, p. 36,) 
 the holy angels had once been righteous men, instead of 
 being the attendants of the eternal Judge, they would be the 
 sheep that shall be gathered before him. The Lord also 
 declares, that at that day he will send forth his angels, who 
 shall sever the wicked from the just : but if they themselves 
 were just men, what would be the meaning of sending them 
 forth to sever the wicked from the just? In various other 
 passages, holy angels are described as forming the train of 
 the eternal Judge ; but in no one of them as standing before 
 his bar to be judged by him." 
 
 The whole of this objection is founded on the mistaken 
 though prevailing opinion, that the judgment spoken of in 
 the Gospels is to be a judgment upon all of the human race, 
 who have ever lived, and who shall live, from the creation 
 of the world to the end of time. But it has been proved, 
 (p. 160 to 169,) that this is not the true doctrine of the 
 Sacred Scriptures on the subject; that several judgments 
 have taken place prior to that above alluded to, namely, at 
 the end of the Most Ancient, the Ancient, and Israelitish 
 churches ; and consequently that the wicked have several 
 times been separated from the just, when these latter have 
 successively been elevated to heaven, and thus invested with 
 the character, name, and office of angels. This single con- 
 sideration detects the fallacy of Mr. Pike's reasoning, and at 
 once annuls his whole argument, which is built, not on the 
 true sense of the Lord's words in the Gospel, but on his own 
 misapprehension of the language and doctrine of divine in- 
 spiration. 
 
 G g 2 Before 
 
236 A VINDICATION OF 
 
 Before the righteous are separated from the unrighteoas 
 in the world of spirits, a kind of mutual intercourse or com- 
 munion takes place between both ; the sheep and the goats 
 are intermixed, as we see they are in this world ; both make 
 the same external profession of religion ; and the real quality 
 of each is not discerned and clearly as( ertained by the other, 
 until the Lord, by the more immediate presence of his divine 
 truth, brings to light and makes manifest their interiors. 
 Separation then ensues, which is called a judgment, and is 
 representatively described under forms peculiar to those of 
 human judicature, that is, by the appearance of a throne, 
 tribunal, or judgment-seat, and One sitting thereon, before 
 whom all nations are summoned, that each may be dealt 
 with according to the works done in the body. At the con- 
 clusion of this process, the sheep and the goats are severally 
 addressed by the King the Judge, the former in these words, 
 " Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom pre- 
 pared for you from the foundation of the world;" and the 
 latter in these, *' Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting 
 fire, prepared for the devil and his angels," Matt. xxv. 34, 
 41. The kingdom prepared for the good is the angelic 
 heaven, where all the inhabitants are angels ; but the fire 
 prepared for the devil and his angels denotes hell, where all 
 the inhabitants are devils : and as the goats on the left hand 
 proved, on examination, to be no other than devils, therefore 
 the fire of hell, notwithstanding Mr. Pike's assertion to the 
 contrary, was prepared for them as devils, and not for any 
 beings of a superior order, who were once blessed and 
 happy angels, but who by transgression fell, and were cast 
 out of heaven. 
 
 But further ; not only are good men raised to the dig- 
 nity and title of angels at the end of a church, when a 
 general judgment takes place, but the Scriptures give us 
 plainly to understand, that in the intervals between the com- 
 mencement and the expiration of a church, and consequently 
 long before the judgment proper to each respectively,, good 
 
 and 
 
EMANUEt SWEDENBORGS WRITINGS. 237 
 
 and righteous men of all nations have been elevated after 
 death to their places in heaven, and have then become 
 angels ; while, on the contrary, wicked men have been in 
 like manner consigned after death to their places in hell, and 
 thus have become devils. The account given of Abraham 
 and Lazarus in heaven, and of the rich man ni hell, Luke 
 xvi. 22, 23, and this while men were still living in the natural 
 world, before the time of tlie judgment, is a case in point : 
 so is that of the angel, who shewed John the various things 
 which he saw in the spiritual world, Apoc. xix. 10. Chap, 
 xxii. 8, 9 : not to mention the case of Moses and Elias, who 
 appeared in glory at the time of the Lord's transfiguration, 
 Luke ix. 30, 31; and of others, who are sometimes called 
 men, and sometimes angels, yet all of them enjoying the hap- 
 piness of heaven, without waiting for the general judgment; 
 which is a fact that confounds, overthrows, and blows out 
 of sight, the whole system adopted by Mr. Pike, in relation 
 to these subjects, as a thing altogether foreign to the truth of 
 revelation. 
 
 As to Mr. Pike's assertion that angels are no where re- 
 presented as being liable to be judged themselves, but are 
 only described as forming the retinue of the great Judge, 
 assisting him, and witnessing his proceedings, it is sufficient 
 to refer him to his favourite apostle Paul, who in the mildest 
 manner possible will rebuke him for his presumption in dar- 
 ing to controvert his high authority. " Do ye not know, 
 (says he,) that the saints shall judge the world? Know ye 
 not, that we shall judge angels?'' 1 Cor. vi. 2,3. Paul, it 
 appears, so far from agreeing with the views of some who 
 profess to admire him, in considering that men only are to be 
 judged, and the angels to be either aiding and assisting in 
 their judgment, or else mere spectators on the occasion, en- 
 tirely reverses the picture, maintaining that the angels are to 
 be judged by the saints, heavenly beings by earthly worms ! 
 The question is therefore between Paul and Pike, the 
 master and the scholar : they are at complete issue with each 
 other, and mast be left to settle the dispute as they can. 
 
 4. EVIL 
 
236 A VINDICATION OF 
 
 4. EVIL SPIRITS DISTURBING HEAVEN. 
 
 It is again objected to Swedeiiborg, p. 37, that he re- 
 presents the hells, or evil spirits from the hells, as disturbing 
 heaven before the coming- of the Lord, and infesting it a 
 thousand different ways: and this Mr. Pike considers as op- 
 posed to the Scriptures, which say, " There shall in no wise 
 enter into it (heaven (*)) any thing that defileth, neither 
 whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie," Apoc. 
 xxi. 27. And again, " Lay up for yourselves treasures in 
 heaven, where thieves do not break through nor steal," Matt. 
 vi. 20. Yet this very attempt of the infernals to disturb, 
 plunder, and destroy heaven, is one of the reasons which 
 induced the Lord to come into the world, in order to frus- 
 trate their designs. It is therefore written, " Blessed be the 
 King that cometh in the name of the Lord ; peace in heaven, 
 and glory in the highest," Luke xix. 38. Here mention is 
 made of peace being produced in heaven, as an effect of the 
 coming of the Lord into the world ; which evidently implies, 
 that before such coming the angels were in some measure 
 disturbed or infested by the machinations of evil spirits. 
 This is more plainly expressed in these words by an inspired 
 penman : " There was war in heaven ; Michael and his 
 angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon fought 
 and his angels, and prevailed not, neither was their place 
 found any more in heaven. And the great dragon was cast 
 
 out, 
 
 (*) Mr. Pike here, instead of the holy city, New Jerusalem, which is evi- 
 dently referred to by the pronoun it just preceding, improperly inserts the word 
 heaven within parentheses, no doubt for the purpose of strengthening his argument. 
 The expression of his own choice has been allowed to remain, and yet it wiU no 
 more serve his cause in the end, than the straw grasped by a drowning man will 
 support him in his danger. The term heaven is general, having respect to the state 
 of the blessed as well before as since the coming of the Lord : whereas the phrase, 
 holy city. New Jerusalem, is more particular in it's application, being exclusively 
 predicated of the state of heaven and the church since his coming, and Indeed since 
 bis second coming, which has taken place in our day, in the opening of the trffe 
 spiritaal sense of his Holy Word. 
 
EMANUEL SWEDENBORg's WRITINGS. 239 
 
 out, that old serpent, called the devil and Satan, which de- 
 ceiveth the whole world : he was cast out into the earth, and 
 his anffels were cast out with him. And I heard a loud 
 voice, saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, 
 and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ: 
 for the accuser (infester and disturber) of our brethren is cast 
 down, which accused them before our God day and night. 
 And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by 
 the word of their testimony," Apoc. xii. 7 to 11. Our Lord 
 himself also says in the Gospel, " I beheld Satan as light- 
 ning fall from heaven" Luke x. 18. He must then have 
 found means to introduce himself into those regions of bliss, 
 from which he was at length expelled, possibly in some 
 such way as the man without a wedding-garment insinuated 
 himself amongst the guests invited to the heavenly wedding, 
 who was in like manner cast out into outer darkness, Matt, 
 xxii. 11 to 13. 
 
 Another case shall be mentioned of a devil or evil spirit 
 not only gaining access to heaven, where the angels were 
 assembled, but even offering his advice in the presence of 
 the Supreme Being himself; and that is the case related by 
 the prophet Micaiah. " Hear (says he to the king of Israel) 
 the word of Jehovah : I saw Jehovah sitting on his throne, 
 and all the host of heaven standing by him, on his right hand 
 and on his left. And Jehovah said, Who will persuade 
 Ahab, that he may go up and fall at Ramoth-gilead ? And 
 one said on this manner, and another said on that manner. 
 And there came forth a spirit, and stood before Jehovah, 
 and said, 1 will persuade him. And Jehovah said unto him, 
 Wherewith i And he said, I will go forth, and I will be a 
 lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets. And he said. 
 Thou shalt persuade him, and prevail also : go forth, and do 
 so. Now therefore behold, Jehovah hath put a lying spirit 
 in the mouth of all these thy prophets, and Jehovah hath 
 spoken evil concerning thee," 1 Kings xxii. 19 to 23. 
 
 Wherein now does the account given by Swedenborg of 
 the state of heaven before the coming of the Lord, as being 
 
 subject 
 
240 A VINDICATION OF 
 
 subject occasionally to the presence and infestation of evil 
 spirits, at all differ from the testimony of divine revelation? 
 Is it not in literal and perfect agreement with it ? And is it 
 not at the same time evident, that the benefits of redemp- 
 tion extended not only to men upon earth, but even to the 
 angels in heaven, who found in it an accession of strength, 
 and security from all further danger 1 Yet Mr. Pike, in the 
 fulness of his ignorance on this important subject, reprobates 
 and virtually disclaims all part in a heaven, that could stand 
 in need of such divine assistance. " What a heaven (says he, 
 p. 37,) would that be!" intimating thereby, (for what other 
 conclusion can be drawn from his words .') that it would not 
 be worthy of his acceptance or notice, if it's enjoyments and 
 felicities were not placed on a more solid and permanent 
 basis, than the protection afforded by the powerful arm of 
 the Redeemer. 
 
 It follows, therefore, if we would put a consistent inter- 
 pretation on the various passages of Scripture, which appa- 
 rently oppose each other, that the quotations which Mr. Pike 
 has made from the Apocalypse and the Gospel, stating that 
 heaven is a place into which there shall in no wise enter 
 any thing that defileth, or worketh abomination, or maketh a 
 lie, and that it is not liable to the violence and rapacity of 
 thieves, apply not to the cases of a different complexion al- 
 ready cited, nor to others in which occasional intrusion into 
 the blest abodes on the part of devils, satans, and hypocrites, 
 has been permitted for wise and useful purposes, but are to 
 be understood as conveying a divine assurance, that no one 
 can be received into the new church and kingdom of the 
 Lord, who defiles and perverts his Word, or who confirms 
 himself in evils of life, and in falses of doctrine ; and in 
 general, that all who believe in the Lord, and live according 
 to his commandments, will hereafter be placed in a state of 
 perfect security from all danger; so that even admitting the 
 casual introduction of strangers, as of wolves among lambs, 
 of leopards among kids, or of lions among calves, a state of 
 iunoceiicy shall still bear rule, and nothing shall by any 
 
 means 
 
EMANUEL SWEDENBORG S WRITINGS. 241 
 
 means hurt pr destroy in alt the holy mountain, Isa. xi. 
 6 to 9. 
 
 5. THE WICKED GO VOLUNTARILY TO HELL, AND INFER- 
 NAL SPIRITS HAVE THEIR DELIGHTS. 
 
 Another sore, which Mr. Pike appears to feel to the 
 quick, is, that " according to Swedenborg, men go volun- 
 tarily to hell," and that infernal spirits " have their delights." 
 The idea generally entertained by the ignorant of the nature 
 of hell, as consisting merely in torments, produced by the 
 application of fire and brimstone to immortal souls, whereby 
 fehey are perpetually roastincf without ever being consumed; 
 has evidently led to the objection here stated. Under a full 
 -conviction, that no man would willingly court punishment, op 
 feel any thing like pleasure and delight in the pains of 
 damnation, and taking it for granted, that hell is nothing 
 else but a place of extreme suffering without a moment's 
 respite, Mr. Pike thinks it passing strange to be told, that 
 wicked spirits after death betake themselves voluntarily and 
 even cheerfully to hell. He does not seem to be at all aware, 
 that hell consists, first, in the delight of doing evil; and 
 secondly, in the punishment and misery, which that delight, 
 when put forth into action, unavoidably entails : just as on 
 the other hand, heaven consists, first, in the delight of doing 
 good ; and secondly, in the happiness, which that delight, 
 when put forth into action, necessarily produces. The dif- 
 ference in the quality of these delights constitutes the essen- 
 tial difference between heaven and hell. The delights, which 
 prevail in hell, are the delights of hatred, revenge, and 
 murder; of adultery and whoredom; of depredation and theft; 
 of raillery, false testimony, and blasphemy ; of the denial of 
 a God, and profanation of his Holy Word, with many other 
 kinds ; all of which are opposed to the delights of heaven, 
 arising from love to the Lord, and love to our neighbour. 
 
 That the delight of doing good, in obedience to the 
 divine law, constitutes heaven, is plain from these passages 
 
 H h in 
 
242 A VINDICATION OF 
 
 in the Word, which describe the character of the good man . 
 *' His delight is in the law of Jehovah, and in his law doth 
 Le meditate day and night," Ps. i. 2. " Delight thyself in 
 Jehovah ; and he shall give thee the desires of thy heart," 
 Ps. xxxvii. 4. " I delight to do thy will, O my God : yea, 
 thy law is within my heart," Ps. xl. 8. " In the multitude 
 of my thoughts within me, thy comforts delight my soul," 
 Ps. xciv. 19. " Thy testimonies are my delight, and my 
 counsellors. I have chosen the way of truth. Unless thy 
 law had been my delights, I had perished. Thy command- 
 ments are my delights," Ps. cxix. 24, 30, 92, 143. " Let 
 yonr sijyxX delight \\se\{ in fatness," Isa. Iv. 2. " They seek 
 me daily, and delight to know my ways ; they take delight in 
 approaching to God," Isa. Iviii. 2. " Mary hath chosen that 
 good part, which shall not be taken away from her," Luke 
 X. 42. These and many other passages clearly announce, 
 that the delight and choice of doing good, and of walking in 
 the way of truth, constitute the very essence of the heavenly 
 life, and qualifies man for the enjoyment of those ineffable 
 pleasures, which are said to be " at the right hand of God," 
 Ps. xvi. 11. Now if hell be the reverse of heaven,' which 
 none will deny, it must be so in all it's delights, as well as in 
 the consequences of those delights : and as the character and 
 condition of man after death is determined altogether by the 
 quality of his delights, or, what is the same thing, by the 
 choice which he has previously made, and still continues to 
 make, either of good or of evil, it necessarily follows, that 
 his future heaven or his future hell will be according to the 
 same. Hence it is wwtten of the wicked, " Ye did evil before 
 mine eyes, and did choose that wherein I delighted not," Isa. 
 Ixv. 12. " They have chosen their own ways, and their soul 
 delighteth in their abominations," Isa. Ixvi. 3. " Death 
 shall be chosen, rather than life, by all the residue of them 
 that remain of this evil family," Jer. viii. 3. " Without are 
 dogs, and sorcerers, and whoremongers, and murderers, and 
 idolaters, and whosoever loveth and maketh a lie," Apoc. 
 xxii. 15. 
 
 From 
 
EMANUEL SWEDENBORG's WRITINGS. 243 
 
 From these considerations it is evident, that, as the life 
 of angels and blessed spirits is the life of their choice and of 
 their delights, so, on the contrary, the life of infernal and 
 wicked spirits is equally the life of their choice and of their 
 delights ; that as the one leads to the enjoyment of real and 
 permanent bliss, so the other is productive of misery and 
 unhappiness ; consequently, as before observed, that both 
 heaven and hell consist essentially in delights, but in such as 
 are in direct opposition the one to the other. If so, then all 
 that Mr. Pike has urged against the truth of this doctrine 
 falls to the ground, as inapplicable to the subject, notwith- 
 standing the few passages of Scripture, which he adduces in 
 support of his own theory. Like many others, who know 
 not how to collect true doctrine from the Word, or how to 
 separate the appearances of truth in the letter from the 
 genuine sense that every where pervades it, and thus give a 
 consistent interpretation to the whole, when he reads that 
 *' God is angry every day," Ps. vii. 11, and that at times he 
 burns with wrath, fury, indignation, and vengeance, " rain- 
 ing upon the wicked snares, fire and hrimstone, and an hor- 
 rible tempest,'' Ps. xi. 6. Deut. xxxii. 22. Isa. xxx. 27, 
 30, 33, he confirms himself in the belief of these apjmrent 
 truths, and teaches others, that God is " altogether such a 
 one as himself," Ps. 1. 21 ; that he is actually the subject of 
 such hateful passions or emotions ; tha^ he is not only an in- 
 temperate Judge, but also the inflicter of punishment himself, 
 the executioner of his own vengeance on the heads of the 
 guilty, to whom he literally says, " Depart, ye cursed, into 
 everlasting fire,'' Matt. xxv. 41 ; while the attendant angels, 
 whom he associates with himself in the work of destruction, 
 are ordered to " cast them into the furnace of fire, where 
 shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth," Matt. xiii. 42, 50. 
 Thus, instead of keeping in view the genuine truths of the 
 Word, which ascribe to the Lord nothing but what is worthy 
 of a Being of infinite goodness, and suffering these to be his 
 guide in determining every point of doctrine relative to his 
 dealings with mankind, he rashly confounds mercy with 
 
 H h 2 wrath, 
 
244 
 
 A VINDICATION OF 
 
 wrath, light with darkness, heaven with hell, asserting that 
 the same fountain " seuds forth at the same place sweet 
 water and bitter," James iii. 11 ; and that " out of the mouth 
 of the Most High proceedeth both evil and good," (*) Lam. 
 iii. 38. 
 
 To do justice to Baron Swedenborg ©n tiiis very im- 
 portant subject, it is but reasonitble he should be allowed to 
 speak for himself; and though the meml)ers of the New 
 Church may be perfectly satisfied with what has already been 
 advanced, yet as others, into whose hands this Vindication 
 of his writings may fall, may not have had an opportunity of 
 forui;iig a correct judgment for themselves on the nature of 
 his doctrine, but have depended on the garbled extracts and 
 unfair quotations, which his enemies have repeatedly made 
 from them for the purposes of misrepresentation and decep- 
 tion, the following observations, taken from his treatise oii 
 Heaven and Hell, are thought worthy of being transcribed. 
 They are to be found in the Section entitled, T/iaf the Lord 
 €€ists none into hell, hut that the spirits cast themselves into 
 it, n. 545 to 550. 
 
 " It is a prevailing opinion with many, that God tarns 
 away his face from man, rejects and casts him into hell ; in a 
 word, that he is angry with him for sin, and inflicts vindictive 
 punishment upon him on that account; and they confirm 
 themselves in this belief from like expressions in the literal 
 sense of the Word, not considering, that the spiritual sense, 
 which is the true interpreter of the letter, is very different. 
 Now the genuine doctrine of the church, as founded on the 
 spiritual sense of the Word, teaches, that God is not in- 
 exorable, nor implacable, neither hath any vindictive wrath, 
 nor casts any one into hell : and this all may plainly know, 
 who read the Scriptures with any degree of divine light in 
 
 their 
 
 (*) The passage here referred to lias, in the cominun Englisli translation, 
 by mistake, a bote of interrogation placed at the end of it, which entirely changes 
 tbe sense. But in the original Hebrew it is not put in the shape of a qufstion, 
 but as a plain declaration, that " evils and good do not proceed out of the mouth 
 of the Blost High." 
 
EMANUEL SWEDENBORG's WRITINGS. 245 
 
 tfeeir understandings, as he is there represented as the foun- 
 tain of all good, love, and mercy; and consequently that it 
 is contrary to his nature and essence to reject and cast away 
 any ; but contrariwise that he willeth the good and happiness 
 of all men, and dealeth with them according to his infinite 
 love and mercy. They who so think, when they read the 
 Word, will not fail to discern therein that hidden, spiritual 
 sense, which gives light and life to the letter, which is written 
 in a sense accommodated to our natural capacities, and first 
 rudiments of knowledge. 
 
 " Men of an enlightened understanding, moreover, see 
 good and evil in the same fulness of contrariety and op- 
 position that heaven and hell stand in to each other, and how 
 all good comes from the former, and all evil from the latter ; 
 consequently that man is continually drawn to good by the 
 Lord of heaven, as well as to evil by the attraction of hell ; 
 and that unless man stood between these two contrary attrac- 
 tions, he would neither have thought, will, nor liberty, these 
 being the effects of his equilibrium betwixt good and evil ; 
 consequently, were the Lord so to turn away from man, as 
 to leave him wholly to the power of evil, he would immedi- 
 ately cease to be human. This divine influence extends to 
 every man both bad and good, only with this difference, that, 
 in respect to the former, it's operation consists in withdraw- 
 ing from evil ; in respect to the latter, in attracting to £^1 
 good ; and the cause of the difference is the quality or will of 
 the recipient. 
 
 *• From these considerations it is evident, that the evil, 
 which a man does, is by influx from hell ; and that the good, 
 which he does, is by influx from the Lord ; but by believing, 
 [and consenting to it as such,] that the evil which he does is 
 from himself, he makes it his proper oAvn, and therefore is 
 the cause of his own evil. Evil in man [as his choice] is hell 
 within him ; for whether we call it evil or hell, it amounts to 
 tlie same. Now since man is the cause of his own evil, he 
 is therefore his own leader to hell ; and so far is the Lord 
 from being chargeable ivitU his destruction, that he does all 
 
 that 
 
246 A VINDICATION OF 
 
 that divine goodness can do to deliver him from it, consistently 
 with his choice and free will. All that belongs to man's will 
 and love remains with him after death ; he that wills and loves 
 evil in this world, wills and loves the same after death, and 
 then it is no longer separable from him ; and therefore it is, 
 that he who by choice continues in evil here, binds himself 
 to hell, and is actually in it in spirit even in this life, and 
 after death desires nothing more than to be where his own 
 beloved evil may be in it's proper province and exercise ; 
 consequently such a one is cast into hell by himself, and not 
 by the Lord. 
 
 •* How the above is effected shall here be mentioned : 
 When any one first enters the other world, he is received by 
 angels, who do him all kind offices, enter into conversation 
 with him concerning the Lord, heaven, and the angelical 
 life, and instruct him in various kinds and relations of good 
 and truth. But if the person (now become a spirit) be one 
 that was acquainted with the like things in this world, but ia 
 his heart had rejected and despised them, in this case, after 
 some short conference with the angels, he desires his dismis- 
 sion ; upon which they leave him. He then, after some con- 
 ferences with others, associates with spirits like unto him- 
 self; which done, he turns away from the Lord, and sets his 
 face towards that particular hell Mhich he had fellowship 
 with in this world, and where the infernals are of the same 
 evil affections with himself. By this we may learn, that the 
 Lord strives with every spirit to draw him to himself, by the 
 ministry of angels, and by an influx from heaven ; but that 
 such, as are under the dominion of sin, are reluctant to all 
 his gracious means for good to them, being drawn away from 
 them as by a rope by their evil propensities, and so volun- 
 tarily cast themselves into hell. This will seem incredible 
 to most in this world, from the general idea conceived of 
 hell : nor do those miserable wretches think that they so pre- 
 cipitate themselves, but only that they enter in of their own 
 accord, though such of them, as enter their dismal prisons 
 under ardent propensities to evil, appear to the good spirits 
 
 as 
 
EMANUEL SWEDENBORG's WRITINGS. 247 
 
 as if they were cast headlong thither ; and from this appear- 
 ance of precipitation comes the notion of the Lord's casting 
 them into hell i^y his almighty power. Let thus much suffice 
 to shew, that the sinner's destruction, and casting into hell, 
 are not from the Lord, but from himself, both in this world 
 and the other. 
 
 " That the Lord, who is essential good, love, and mercy, 
 cannot exercise them towards all alike, is because of the hin- 
 drances which evils and falses lay in the way, and so weaken 
 or repel the divine emanations. Evils and falses are as so 
 many black clouds, which, by their interposition between 
 the sun and the human eye, intercept it's lovely light and 
 cheering influences, whilst the sun continues the same, all- 
 glorious, and strives to dissipate the obstructing medium, 
 still transmitting something of light through the intermediate 
 veil. The case is similar in the spiritual world : the Lord 
 and his divine love are represented by the spiritual sun, 
 and the light thereof is divine truth ; the black clouds are the 
 falses from evil ; and the eye signifies the understanding ; 
 and as far as any one there is in falses from evil, in the same 
 degree of darkness and thickness is the cloud that surrounds 
 him. This comparison may represent to us how the Lord is 
 perpetually present with every man, but differently according 
 to his reception. 
 
 " Severe punishments are appointed for the evil spirits 
 in the spiritual world, to deter them from the commission of 
 evil ; and the infliction of them appears as if from the Lord ; 
 but in reality it all proceeds from the evil that is in them ; 
 for evil and it's punishment are inseparable companions. In- 
 fernal spirits wish and delight in nothing more than to do 
 mischief, and torment others that are not under the divine 
 protection ; and as all, that offend through malicious wicked- 
 ness, withdraw themselves from that protection, on such they 
 rush, and exercise their cruelty- This may be illustrated by 
 the administrations of justice in this world, where the punish- 
 ment also follows it's evil. Thus human laws have provided 
 a penalty for every crime, and which the delinquent brings 
 
 upon 
 
248 A VINDICATION OF 
 
 upon himself, only with this difference, that offences may be 
 concealed here, but not in the other life. Thus the Lord 
 can no more be said to be the author of the sinner's misery, 
 than the king, the judge, or the law, to be the cause of the 
 criminal's punishment, as having nothing to do with the guilt 
 that entails it upon him." 
 
 6. SOME ARE IN HELL, AND DO NOT KNOW IT. 
 
 Again, Mr. Pike considers it to be an inconceivable 
 thing, that a man or a devil should be in hell, and yet not 
 know that he is there. And indeed it would be most extra- 
 ordinary, if his absurd and childish notions concerning the 
 nature of hell, as consisting of literal fire and brimstone, were 
 in agreement with the truth. But the fire of hell is not 
 material or natural fire ; for this cannot in any wise affect or 
 torment a spirit: but it is the inordinate love of self and the 
 world, together with all the lusts, concupiscences, and crimi- 
 nal passions, arising therefrom, such as malice, envy, hatred, 
 revenge, cruelty, lasciviousuess, adultery, and other deadly 
 evils. For as the heat and genial warmth of heaven is pure 
 disinterested love, and universal benevolence, so infernal fire 
 is the continual burning desire of committing violence, and 
 spreading destruction among others. It is therefore written, 
 " Wickedness burneth as the fire : it shall devour the briers 
 and thorns, and shall kindle in the thickets of the forest, 
 and they shall mount up like the lifting up of smoke : the 
 people shall be as the fuel of the fire : no man shall spare 
 his brother," Isa. ix. 18, 19. Again, " Babylon is fallen, 
 and is become the habitation of devils : and they cried, when 
 they saw the smoke of her burning : and her smoke rose up 
 for ever and ever," Apoc. xviii. 2, 18. Chap. xix. 3. In 
 these and many other passages by fire is meant the lust of 
 self-love and the love of the world ; and by the smoke which 
 ascended, the false arising from and accompanying evil. 
 
 Now, considering what is really meant by the fire and 
 smoke, with which infernal spirits are said to be enveloped, 
 
 and 
 
EMANUEL SWEDENBORGS WRITINGS. 249 
 
 and which at a distance have all the appearance of being- 
 literally such ; and considering; further, that the persons 
 spoken of do actually " call evil good, and good evil ; that 
 they put darkness for light, and light for darkness, bitter for 
 sweet, and sweet for bitter," Isa. v. 20; and that they " love 
 darkness rather than light, because their deeds are evil," 
 John iii. 19 ; there is then no difficulty whatever in con- 
 ceiving", that, while they are in the perception of their vi- 
 cious delights, they may be totally ignorant of their deplo- 
 rable situation ; ignorant, in short, that they are in hell, 
 until wofully convinced of their delusion by the heavy punish- 
 ments, which those delights unavoidably bring upon them. 
 It is evident, therefore, that the scorn and contempt, with 
 which Mr. Pike treats this subject, as well as others equally 
 above the reach of his narrow conceptions, so far from weak- 
 ening the credit due to Baron Swedenborg's testimony, be- 
 tray only his own ignorance of the true nature of hell, as 
 opposed to heaven, and of the state of man in another life, 
 as being essentially the same as in the natural world, where 
 each one follows the pursuits, delights, and pleasures, to 
 which his own inclinations and suitable opportunities lead 
 him. 
 
 I i SECTION 
 
250 A VINDICATION OF 
 
 SECTION XVIII. 
 
 1 . Heavenly Joy supposed by many to consist in per- 
 petually worsliippiug and glorifying God in an ex- 
 ternal Manner, which yet is a Thing impossible. — 
 2. What is truly meant by praying always, and by 
 i^icessant Qlorijication. — 3. Angels not perfectly 
 pure. — 4. Administrations, Offices, and Trades in 
 Heaven. — 5. MatTiagcs in Heaven. 
 
 1. HEAVENLY JOY SUPPOSED TO CONSIST IN PERPE- 
 TUAL WORSHIP. 
 
 W E now come to Mr. Pike's last objection, p. 40, which 
 is directed against the account given by Swedenborg of hea- 
 ven ; the functions and employments of it's inhabitants ; their 
 eating, drinking, and recreations ; the occasional admission 
 of strangers therein, who either withdraw themselves from it 
 of their own accord, or are cast out; the education of chil- 
 dren ; the celebration of marriages ; divine worship ; and vari- 
 ous other particulars, some of which have been already con- 
 sidered in the preceding pages, and therefore require no 
 further notice, though Mr. Pike seems never wearied with 
 repeating the same objections over and over again. 
 
 It appears to be an opinion very generally entertained 
 by those, who know no more of the nature of heaven, than 
 they do of the nature of hell, that heavenly joy and heavenly 
 employment consist altogether in praising and worshipping- 
 God. And because the Baron takes some pains to correct 
 this mistaken idea, Mr. Pike represents him as contradicting 
 the Scriptures, which say of " the four beasts in the midst 
 of the throne, and round about the throne, that they rest not 
 day and night, saying. Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Al- 
 mighty," 
 
EMANUEL" SAVEDRNBORG S WRITINGS. 251 
 
 mig-hty," &c. Apoc. iv. (>, 8. He supposes, that these four 
 beasts or living' creatures " are designed to give a hieroglv- 
 phical representation of the angels ," and therefore he con- 
 cludes, that the angels themselves are continually employed 
 in worshipping" and celebrating their Creator, and that men 
 also, as forming the church triumphant, join in the same un- 
 ceasing song of vocal glorification. But herein is his error; 
 the four beasts do not represent the angels, but the Word ; 
 and therefore their place is said to be in the midst of the 
 throne, or upon the throne, because the Word is divine, like 
 the Lord himself, and is that whereby all judgment is per- 
 formed," John xii. 48 : they are also said to be round about 
 the throne, because the Word is received throughout the 
 angelic heaven, and is the rule of life to each individual 
 therein. They are further described as being full of eyes 
 before and behind, to denote the divine wisdom, which is in 
 every part of the Word. Now when it is said of these four 
 beasts, that " they rest not day and night, saying, Holy, 
 holy, holy," &c. we are to understand by such language, that 
 the Word continually and without intermission teaches, that 
 the Lord is the Only God, and consequently that he alone is 
 to be worshipped. But it follows in the chapter above cited, 
 that " when those beasts give glory, and honour, and thanks, 
 to him that sat on the throne, who liveth for ever and ever," 
 then " the four and twenty elders also fall down before him," 
 and make a similar acknowledgment ; by which we are not 
 surely to understand, that finite creatures, like angels or 
 men, are incessantly and without intermission singing and 
 praising God in an external and audible manner, which is a 
 thing utterly impossible, but that they are constantly in the 
 true spirit of devotion, even when attending to their ap- 
 pointed ministrations and active services to each other, Ps. 
 ciii. 20, 21. Ps. civ. 4. Heb. i. 14; and that on all suit- 
 able occasions, whenever their attention is more immediately 
 called to the Word and worship of the Lord, they also, in 
 an external, visible, and audible manner, make their accus- 
 
 I 1 2 tomed 
 
352 A VINDICATION OF 
 
 tomed offerings of thanksgiving, praise, and adoration to him 
 that liveth for ever and ever, 
 
 2. WHAT IS MEANT BY PRAYING ALWAYS, AND INCES- 
 SANT GLORIFICATION. 
 
 That the inhabitants of heaven are not perpetually and 
 without intermission engaged in external acts of divine wor^ 
 ship, any more than men on earth, though doubtless their 
 •whole life is in the true spirit of devotion, may be known 
 from this single consideration, that the thing is in itself im- 
 possible. No finite being has the power of continuing any 
 one act either of mind or body for ever ; there must be 
 changes of state, and with them varieties of action ; there 
 must, as the wise man says, be a season and a time for every 
 purpose, as well among angels as men ; consequently there 
 must be a time for worship, a time for useful employments, a 
 time for recreation, a time for social conversation, a time for 
 eating and drinking, and a time for rest. Whenever there- 
 fore mention is made, in the Word, or in the Apostolic 
 Epistles, of watching and praying always, as in Luke xviii. 
 1. Chap. xxi. 36. Rom. i. 9. Col. i. 9. 1 Thess. v. 17. 
 2 Tim. i. 3 ; or of blessing and praising the Lord continually, 
 as in Ps. xxxiv. 1. Ps. lii. 9; or of talking of his righteous- 
 ness all the day long, as in Ps. Ixxi. 24 ; or of ceasing not to 
 give thanks, as in Ps. xxx. 12. Eph. i. 16. 1 Thess. ii. 13 ; 
 or of constantly shouting for joy, as in Ps. v. 11 ; or of 
 dwelling in the house and tabernacle of the Lord for ever, 
 as in Ps. xxiii. 6. Ps. Ixi. 4 ; or oi serving him day and night 
 in his temple, as in Apoc. vii. 15 ; all these and similar ex- 
 pressions, both with respect to angels and men, are to be 
 understood, not of the external acts, which must of necessity 
 be of temporary duration, but of that general and indeed 
 universal spirit of love and wisdom, piety and devotion, gra- 
 titude and resignation to the divine will, which constitutes 
 the soul of religion, and by it's presence in every change or 
 
 variety 
 
ft EMANUEL SWEDENBORG's WRITINGS. 253 
 
 variety of state causes the whole life, and each particular 
 work, to be an act of worship, praise, and glorification. So 
 that whether with Daniel they " kneel upon their knees, and 
 pray, and give thanks before God three times a day," Dan. 
 vi. 10 ; or with David they " praise him seven times a day," 
 Ps. cxix. 164, they are still constantly engaged in his ser- 
 vice, and never turn aside from following the Lord, but 
 *' love him, and walk in all his ways, and keep his command- 
 ments, and cleave unto him, and serve him with all their 
 heart and with all their soul," Josh. xxii. 5. 1 Sam. xiii. 
 20. Deut. xi. 13. 
 
 3. ANGELS NOT PERFECTLY PURE. 
 
 But, says Mr. Pike, p. 44, *' Swedenborg further in- 
 forms us, that heaven is so far from being a place where 
 nothing that defileth can in any wise enter, as the Scriptures 
 say, that even it's inhabitants are not quite chaste and pure ;" 
 and, in proof of his charge, gives a partial quotation from 
 the treatise on Conjugial Love, n. 71, and 746, omitting the 
 reasons upon which that assertion is founded. That the 
 reader, however, may be apprized of the unfair method 
 taken by Mr. Pike in this, as in most other cases, the pas- 
 sages referred to shall be here given according to the true 
 sense and meaning of the author. "It is not possible (says 
 the Baron) that any love should become perfectly pure with 
 men, nor with angels, consequently neither conjugial love. 
 Nevertheless since the intention of the will is what the Lord 
 principally regards, therefore so far as man is in this inten- 
 tion (of conjugial love), and perseveres in it, so far he is 
 initiated into it's purity and sanctity, and successively ad- 
 vances therein." Conj. Love, 71. 
 
 And again, " It is to be observed, that conjugial love 
 altogether chaste or pure hath not place with men, nor with 
 angels : there is still somewhat not chaste or not pure, which 
 adjoineth or subjoineth itself thereto ; but this originates in a 
 different principle from that which gives birth to what is un- 
 chaste : 
 
254 A VINDICATION OF 
 
 chaste : for with the angels the chaste principle is above, and 
 the principle not chaste is beneath, and there is as it were a 
 door with a hinge interposed by the Lord, which is opened 
 by determination, and is providently prevented from standing 
 open, lest one principle should pass into the other, and they 
 should mix together ; for the natural principle of man from 
 his nativity is defiled, and full fraught with evils ; whereas 
 bis spiritual principle is not so, because the birth of this 
 principle is from the Lord, for it is regeneration ; and re- 
 generation is a successive separation from the evils, to which 
 man is naturally inclined." Conj. Love, 146. 
 
 Wherein now does this account of the relative im- 
 perfection of angels, as finite beings, all of whom were ori- 
 ginally natives of this world, differ from the testimony of the 
 Sacred Scriptures, and the wisdom of the ancients? Not 
 in a single iota. In the Word we read, that the inhabitants 
 of heaven, those who had gotten the victory over the beast, 
 and over his image, and over his mark, and over the number 
 of his name, unanimously disclaim all sanctity in and of 
 themselves, ascribing it wholly unto the Lord, saying, " Who 
 shall not fear thee, O Lord, and glorify thy name I for thou 
 only art holy,'^ Apoc. xv. 4. " There is none holy as Jeho- 
 vah" 1 Sam. ii. 2. If the Lord alone be holy, pure, and 
 perfect, then neither angels nor men can lay claim to that 
 character in any other sense, than as organized forms recep- 
 tive of the life communicated to them, and that in a very im- 
 perfect degree when compared with the fountain of all perfec- 
 tion. " For who in the heaven can be compared unto Jeho- 
 vah I who among the sons of the mighty can be likened unto 
 Jehovah?" Ps. Ixxxix. 6. In one of the books of ancient 
 wisdom the absolute purity of angels is expressly denied : 
 " Behold, he put no trust in his servants ; and his angels he 
 charged with folly," Job iv. 18. " How can man be clean, 
 that is born of a woman ? Yea, the stars (angelic societies) 
 are not pure in his sight," Job xxv. 4, 5. Mr. Pike, how- 
 ever, takes the liberty of thinking otherwise; and in op- 
 position to the Evangelist, the Prophet, the Psalmist, and 
 
 other 
 
EMANUEL SWEDENBORGS WRITINGS. 255 
 
 other wise men of antiquity, considers the inhabitants of 
 heaven to be altogether holy, pure, and perfect, without any 
 abatement or alloy whatever ; which is in eftect to exalt them 
 above the rank of angels, and to canonize them as so many 
 independent Gods. 
 
 4. ADMINISTRATIONS, OFFICES, EMPLOYMENTS, AND 
 TRADES IN HEAVEN. 
 
 It is an opinion very commonly entertained by professing 
 Christians, that the happiness of heaven consists in a life of 
 ease and indolence, and this because it is described in the 
 Word as a place of rest, which is interpreted to be an ex- 
 emption from all exercise and activity. The same idea is 
 also strengthened by what is said in Job concerning the grave, 
 though by mistake it is supposed to refer to heaven : " There 
 the wicked cease from troubling, and there the weary are at 
 rest,'' Job iii. 17. This opinion is adopted by Mr. Pike, 
 and he seems to think it strange indeed, that Baron Sweden- 
 borg should presume to assert, that in heaven, as well as 
 upon earth, there are different administrations, viz. ecclesias- 
 tical, civil, and domestic; that there are offices, judiciary 
 proceedings, employments, trades, mechanical arts, and ma- 
 nufactures, together with studies relating to all sciences and 
 professions ; that there are also books and writings, parch- 
 ment, paper, pens, and ink ; likewise distinctions of dignity 
 and pre-eminence in society, with wealth and riches in great 
 abundance; also meats and drinks, feasts and repasts, gar- 
 ments for ornament and use, sports and public exhibitions, 
 concerts of vocal and instrumental music, with every thing 
 else that can contribute to the comfort and improvement of 
 the inhabitants ; while in the midst of all these external 
 pleasures, duties, and scenes of activity, their minds are con- 
 tinually under the influence of love, and intent upon promot- 
 ing the happiness of all around them. 
 
 The occupations and employments of angels, and of 
 whole societies of angels, are described generally by the 
 
 Baron 
 
256 A VINDICATION OF 
 
 Baron in the manner following: " Some societies are ap- 
 pointed to the charge of infants : others to instruct and edu- 
 cate them till they are grown up : some are instituted for the 
 improvement of such young persons of both sexes, as have 
 been preparing for heaven in this world by a virtuous and 
 pious education : others to form for heaven such as are well 
 disposed, but ignorant: some whose office is to instruct those 
 that are from the various heathen nations : some to receive 
 the novitiate spirits, or such as are newly arrived from this 
 world, and to defend them against all assaults from evil 
 spirits : some also there are, whose designation is to minister 
 to those who are detained for a while in the lower earth : 
 some whose province it is to restrain the evil spirits from 
 tormenting one another beyond due measure : and some are 
 appointed to take care of those who are raised from death. 
 In general, the angels of every society are employed about 
 men, in order to preserve and withdraw them from evil 
 affections and evil thoughts, and to inspire them with good 
 affections, as far as they can receive them consistently with 
 free-will ; and hereby they guide and influence their works 
 or actions, and as much as possible bend their inclinations 
 from evil. But all these administrations are from the Lord 
 through the angels, who act only as instruments therein. 
 
 " The forementioned are the common functions of the 
 angels ; but besides these, every angel has his charge or office 
 in particular. They Avho loved the Word while in this World, 
 and studiously investigated the truths therein, not for honour 
 or gain, but for purposes of practice and good life, both with 
 respect to themselves and others, are appointed to the eccle- 
 siastical functions in heaven, and according to the degree of 
 their love and desire of being useful is their illumination 
 and wisdom from the Word. These exercise the office of 
 preachers, and according to the established laws of divine 
 order excel in eminence of rank and dignity, as they are 
 superior to others in divine illumination. As to matters of 
 civil administration, they constitute the province of such as 
 in this world loved their country, and preferred the good of 
 
 it 
 
EMANUEL SWEDENBORGS WRITINGS. 257 
 
 it to their own private advantage, doing- that which is just 
 and right from affection and principle. As far as these took 
 pleasure in improving their minds in the knowledge of the 
 laws of justice and equity, in such degree are they qualified 
 for offices in the heavenly societies, which they administer, 
 each according to his intellectual abilities, which are in pro- 
 portion to the degree of their affectionate zeal for the com- 
 mon good. In a word, the offices, administrations, and 
 employments in heaven are innumerable, and far exceeding 
 those that are to be found in this world ; and all that are 
 concerned therein take delight to be so engaged from their 
 love of usefulness ; no one is actuated by selfish or lucrative 
 motives, or under the temptation of anxious care for the 
 needful accommodations of life, these being all given to them 
 gratuitously, as suitable habitations, garments, food," &c. 
 Heaven 5f Hell, 391 to 393. 
 
 Such is the description, which the Baron has given, of 
 the various employments in which angels and good spirits are 
 engaged ; and there is surely nothing in the whole account 
 that is either unreasonable in itself, or in the least degree 
 opposed to the Sacred Scriptures, but rather in perfect agree- 
 ment with them. Moses was enjoined to see, that the taber- 
 nacle, and every thing belonging to it, should be made exactly 
 according to their heavenly pattern, which was shewed him 
 in the mount, Exod. xxv. 9, 40 : consequently there was not 
 a single object, instrument, or utensil, in or about it, but 
 what was also in heaven, in it's spiritual substance and foi-m. 
 The apostle John, when he was in spiritual vision, saw a 
 tabernacle, a temple, an ark, and an altar in heaven ; an 
 angel ministering at the altar ; a book sealed with seven seals ; 
 another little book, which he ate; seven golden candlesticks; 
 a great multitude clothed with white robes ; a great supper ; 
 an angel reaping with a sharp sickle ; another angel binding 
 the devil with a great chain, and shutting him up in the 
 bottomless pit for a thousand years; another angel also measur- 
 ing the city New Jerusalem with a golden reed, the founda- 
 
 K k tions 
 
258 A VINDICATION OF 
 
 tions of the wall being garnished with all sorts of precious 
 stones. The prophet Zechariah saw an angel riding in the 
 spiritual world : he saw also four carpenters ; a man with a 
 measuring-line in his hand ; a golden candlestick, with a bowl 
 upon the top of it, and seven lamps. Ezekiel saw six men, 
 each with a slaughtering-weapon in his hand ; another man, 
 who appeared to be a writer or clerk, for he had an ink-horn 
 by his side ; also an angel measuring the temple, and the 
 parts belonging to it. And in Daniel we find, that Michael 
 is called one of the chief princes among the angels. It is 
 plain, therefore, from the Word itself, that there are offices, 
 ministrations, and dignities in the spiritual world, and in 
 heaven, as well as in the natural world; that there are workers 
 in wood, as well as in metals ; carpenters, smiths, and spin- 
 ners ; reapers, writers, and measurers ; in short, every em- 
 ployment, which the necessities, conveniences, and even luxu- 
 ries of life can possibly require. But in all cases, it is to be 
 remembered, the objects and furniture of the spiritual world, 
 including gold, silver, and precious stones, are themselves 
 spiritual, and not material. So also are the meats and drinks, 
 wherewith angels and spirits are refreshed and nourished, 
 and of which abundant mention is made throughout the Sacred 
 Scriptures. For " man shall not live by bread alone, but by 
 every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God," Matt, 
 iv. 4. Deut. viii. 3. 
 
 5. MARRIAGES IN HEAVEN. 
 
 Another objection, and the last which calls for an answer, 
 is that relating to marriages in heaven. Unacquainted with 
 any other sense of the Sacred Scriptures, than that which 
 belongs to their mere letter, Mr. Pike, like his predecessor 
 Dr. Priestley, charges the Baron, p. 45, &c. with contradict- 
 ing them, because he asserts, that marriages take place in 
 heaven, as well as upon earth. For it is argued, that, when 
 the Sadducees interrogated the Lord concerning the woman, 
 
 who 
 
EMANUEL SWEDENBORGS WRITINGS. 259 
 
 who had had seven husbands in this world, and desired to 
 know which of them was to have her for a wife in the resur- 
 rection, he answering said unto them, " The children of this 
 world marry, and are given in marriage ; but they, who shall 
 be accounted worthy to obtain that world, and the resurrec- 
 tion from the dead, neither marry, nor are given in marriage" 
 Luke XX. 34, 35. This passage is thought decidedly to 
 annul the doctrine in question ; and the literal interpreters of 
 Scripture taking it for granted, that the Lord in his answer 
 referred to the same kind of marriage, as tlie Sadducees did, 
 too hastily conclude, that the assertion of the Baron and the 
 words of the Lord are in direct opposition to each other. On 
 due examination, however, it will be found, that not only on 
 this, but on various other occasions, the Lord, in adopting 
 the very same expressions as those used by the Jews his ene- 
 mies, attached to those expressions totally different ideas from 
 theirs ; and that, while they kept their attention fixed on the 
 external natural things usually understood by the terms em- 
 ployed, he on the contrary spake of the internal spiritual things 
 to which they corresponded, and of which neither the ancient 
 nor modern Sadducees had or still have any true knowledge. 
 For example, in the case above cited, the Sadducees by the 
 term marriage understood no other than carnal conjunction, 
 an union not of minds, but of bodies : for being themselves 
 immersed in worldly and corporeal affections, they had no 
 other conceptions of the heavenly state, than such as were 
 gross, earthly, and sensual. But the Lord by the term mar- 
 riage understood something spiritual, and not natural, namely, 
 conjunction with himself, or regeneration, which must be en- 
 tered into while man is yet in the natural world, and not 
 deferred till he comes into the spiritual world, after the 
 manner of the five foolish virgins, who were not prepared to 
 meet the Bridegroom, Matt. xxv. 10. For it is an established 
 truth, founded on the eternal laws of divine order, that the 
 process of regeneration, which is a real spiritual marriage 
 with the Lord, (Isa. liv. 5. Jer. iii. 14. Chap. xxxi. 32.) 
 must commence in this life, and by no means in the life to 
 
 K k 2 come. 
 
i60 A VINDICATION OF 
 
 come, agreeably to that saying, " Where the tree falleth, 
 there it shall &e," Eccles. xi. 3. (*) 
 
 When Jesus had driven the sellers of oxen, sheep, and 
 doves, together with the money-changers, out of the temple, 
 he said unto them, " Destroy this temple, and in three days 
 I will raise it up. Then said the Jews, Forty and six years 
 was this temple in building, and wilt thou rear it up in three 
 days? But he spake of the temjjle of his hody,'' John ii. 
 19 to 21. Here it is evident, that by the same expression 
 the Jews understood one thing, and our Lord another: for 
 when he made mention of the temple, he meant thereby his 
 own body ; but they thought he spake of the building of 
 stone, or place of worship, usually called the temple. It is 
 precisely the same with respect to the term marriage : the 
 mere literalist, the Jew, the Sadducee, the Nominal Chris- 
 tian, takes it in one sense, and that according to it's ordinary 
 acceptation ; while the truly enlightened man, who is aware 
 of the spirit and life contained in every part of the Word, 
 regards it as a natural image representative of a heavenly 
 state. 
 
 Again, it is said, that in the resurrection they neither 
 marry, nor are given in marriage, just as it is said, that no 
 man is to be called father, master, or rabbi : that a rich man 
 
 can 
 
 (*) Man as to his spiritual part is frequently compared, in the Sacred Scrip- 
 tures, to a tree ; and the soil, in which this tree is planted and grows, is his 
 natural affections, formed in and appertaining to his material body. Now while 
 the tree is in it's proper soil, it may be improved by the application of manure 
 to it's roots, and it's quality may be altogether changed by grafting or inoculation. 
 But after the tree is cut down, separated from it's roots, and removed from the 
 soil in which it grew, it is no longer susceptible of improvement or change, but 
 permanently retains the quality it had acquired. So man, while he is in the material 
 body, is capable not only of improvement, but even of an entire change of quality, 
 either by having a scion from the tree of life grafted upon him, or by being himself 
 engrafted as a branch into the true spiritual Vine, and drawing therefrom new 
 spiritual life. But after his removal by death from the natural into the spiritual 
 world, he has no longer the capacity of changing his life ; his character is fixed 
 and determined for ever ; and he must of necessity retain to eternity the same 
 quality, the same ruling affection and disposition, which he had acquired during 
 his life in the material body. 
 
EMANUEL SWEDENBORG's WRITINGS. 261 
 
 *'an scarcely be saved, it bein^ easier for a camel to pass 
 through the eye of a needle, than for a man who has great 
 wealth to enter into the kingdom of heaven ; but that the 
 poor, the lame, and the blind, gain easy admission : that we 
 are to make friends of the mammon of unrighteousness : that 
 the right eye is to be plucked out, and the right hand cut off, 
 if they offend : that we are not to resist evil, but to him that 
 smiteth us on the right cheek, we are to turn the other also : 
 that if any man will sue us at the law, and take away our 
 coat, we are to let him have our cloak also : that, in order to 
 become a true disciple of Jesus, a man must hate his father, 
 and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, 
 yea and his own life also : that the Lord came into the world, 
 not to send peace among men, but a sword ; and to set at 
 variance with each other the father and the son, the mother 
 -and the daughter, &c. &c. In short, it is said, that in the 
 resurrection they neither marry, nor are given in marriage, 
 in the same sense as numerous other passages of Scripture 
 speak of heavenly and divine things, the literal expressions 
 of which are to be understood spiritually, and not naturally. 
 
 Is it now to be supposed, because the Lord says in the 
 Gospel, " Be not ye called Rabbi, or Master ; and call no 
 man your Father upon the earth," Matt, xxiii. 8 to 10, that 
 therefore a man is not at liberty to call his earthly master 
 master, nor his natural father father ? Common reason and 
 understanding dictate, that this could not have been his 
 meaning, but that the terms prohibited are in the spiritual 
 sense to be applied exclusively to the Lord. 
 
 When again it is said, that a rich man can with diflfi- 
 culty be saved, Matt. xix. 23, 24 ; and that the kingdom of 
 heaven is for the poor, Luke vi. 20 ; are we to conclude, 
 that the way of salvation is not equally open to men of every 
 station and degree, but that the poor in worldly estimation 
 have an advantage in this respect over the wealthy merely 
 on account of their poverty ? This surely cannot be admitted 
 by any who believe, that the divine mercy is extended to all 
 of the human race without exception, whether they be dis- 
 tinguished 
 
262 A VINDICATION OF 
 
 tinguished for their rank and wealth, or for the wretchedness 
 of their worldly fortunes. It must be at once perceived by 
 an enlightened mind, that the disqualification for heaven 
 arises not from the possession of earthly riches, but from 
 trusting in them, Mark x. 24, and especially from trusting 
 and taking pride in mere science or knowledge, which con- 
 stitutes spiritual wealth : while, on the contrary, the poverty, 
 that has the promise of eternal life, consists in humility, self- 
 abasement, and a sincere acknowledgment that all true wis- 
 dom is derived from the Lord alone, and communicated to 
 those of whom it is written, " Blessed are the jooor in spirit, 
 for their s is the kingdom of heaven," Matt. v. 3. 
 
 In Matt, xviii. 8, 9, the Lord recommends the hand or 
 the foot to he cut off , and the eye to he plucked out, if they 
 offend ; and adds, that it is better to enter into life halt or 
 maimed, or with only one eye, than having two of each to 
 be cast into hell-fire. But will Mr. Pike or any one else 
 infer from such language, that some good men after death 
 are really and literally so disfigured ; and that, when intro- 
 duced into the final abodes of the blessed, they are to be 
 seen limping and hobbling about in the streets of the hea- 
 venly Jerusalem, some without a hand or arm, some without 
 a foot or leg, and others without an eye ? As well may he 
 form such vain and idle conceits from the Lord's words to his 
 disciples on this occasion, as press into his service, through 
 sheer ignorance of their purport and design, many other parts 
 of divine revelation, which describe the sacrifices to be made 
 in order to obtain eternal life, and among the rest that pas- 
 sage, which declares, that in the resurrection they neither 
 marry, nor are given in marriage, but are as the angels in 
 heaven. 
 
 But what are we to think of the terms and conditions, 
 which a man is required to fulfil, before he can be acknow- 
 ledged as a true disciple of Jesus Christ, if taken according 
 to their plain, obvious, and literal construction I Let those, 
 who refuse to acknowledge a spiritual sense in the Sacred 
 Scriptures perfectly distinct from the customary signification 
 
 of 
 
EMANUEL SWEDENBORG's WRITINGS. 263 
 
 of the words employed, attend to the following declaration of 
 the Lord himself. " If any man come to me, and hate not 
 his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, 
 and sisters, yea and his own life also, he cannot be my dis- 
 ciple," Luke xiv. 26. This is the language of him, who in 
 another place says, " A new commandment I give unto you. 
 That ye love one another- : by this shall all men know, that 
 ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another" John 
 xiii. 34, 35. And again, " These things I command you, 
 that ye love one another ^^ John xv. 17. Nay, ** Love your 
 enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that 
 hate you, and pray for them who despitefully use you, and 
 persecute you," Matt. v. 44. 
 
 Is it possible now, that he, who so strenuously recom- 
 mends love to neighbours, friends, and even enemies, could 
 for a moment depart from his own essence, which is pure 
 love, and enjoin hatred to our nearest and dearest connec- 
 tions, as a necessary qualification for becoming his disciples ? 
 Could he, who so solemnly declares, that on love to God 
 and love to man " hang all the law and the prophets," Matt, 
 xxii. 40, advisedly contravene or abrogate that divine com- 
 mandment, which says, " Honour thy father and thy mo- 
 ther?" Exod. XX. 12. It cannot, must not be imagined. 
 And yet his express words are, " If any man hate not his 
 father, and mother, &c. he cannot be my disciple." 
 
 It may perhaps be thought, that by the hatred here en- 
 joined is meant only a less degree of love, and consequently 
 that the Lord spoke comparatively, and not positively. But 
 neither the original nor the context warrants any such in- 
 terpretation. On the contrary, a real aversion to the things 
 signified by the different terms used is pointed out as an 
 essential requisite of the regenerate life. Thus the father 
 and mother, which are to be hated, denote the natural here- 
 ditary propensities of our nature to what is evil and false, 
 consisting in general of self-love and the love of the world ; 
 and as these propensities beyet or produce acts of wicked- 
 ness, so the former are regarded as parents, and the latter 
 
 as 
 
264 A VINDICATION OF 
 
 as their children or offspring. Similar principles of evil and 
 falsehood in the will, the understanding, and the life, are 
 signified by the other terms ; and the renunciation of these, 
 however dear or gratifying to our depraved appetites they 
 may be, is held up by the Lord as an indispensable condi- 
 tion of our acceptance with him. From this example, among 
 others of a like character, (*) it may be safely and certainly 
 concluded, that the language of divine revelation is in^iany 
 cases to be interpreted, not according to the literal or ex- 
 ternal expression, but according to the genuine internal 
 sense contained within it. And by the same rule, which 
 determines the sense in any given passage, namely, the ge- 
 neral tenour of the Scriptures seen in rational light, it is 
 equally clear, that the term marriage, in the case before 
 cited, was intended by the Lord to convey a spiritual mean- 
 ing widely different from that entertained by the Sadducees. 
 
 That marriages take place in heaven, as well as upon 
 earth, is clearly deducible not only from the original design 
 of the creation of man, but also from the general sense of 
 the Scriptures, which in many places represent heaven as a 
 state of marriage. Our Lord says, " Have ye not read, that 
 he who made them at the beginning, made them male and 
 female ? and said, For this cause shall a man leave father 
 and mother, and shall cleave to his wife ; and theg twain 
 shall be one flesh. Wherefore they are no more twain, but 
 
 one 
 
 (*) In Ps. cxxxvii. 8, 9, the daughter of Babylon is thus addressed: " O 
 daughter of Babylon, who art to he destroyed, hapjij shall he be, that rewardeth 
 thee, as thou hast served us : happy shall he be, that taketh and dasheth thy little 
 ones against the stones." The daughter of Babylon, spiritually understood, is the 
 affection or love of what is false from a principle of evil, either in the church, or in 
 an individual : her little ones, or infants, are the false and wicked thoughts suggested 
 by evil in their first or earliest state : and to dash them against the stones, is to nip 
 thera as it were in the bud, that is, to extinguish or destroy them on their first ap- 
 pearance. In this sense of the words, every intelligent person will admit, that so 
 to deal with the rising suggestions of evil, or incitements to a wicked course of life, 
 will lead to the enjoyment of true and permanent happiness ; while, on the contrary, 
 to take the passage literally, and to act accordingly, by barbarously murdering the 
 infants even of enemies, would be a crime of the greatest enormity, and could never 
 be recommended by a wise, merciful, and holy God, as the path to future bliss. 
 
EMANUEL SVVEDENBORG S WRITINGS. 265 
 
 one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let not 
 nvAW put asunder,'' Matt. xix. 4 to 6. Hence it plainly ap- 
 pears, that marriage, which consists in the union of male 
 and female forms, both in the spiritual and in the natural 
 world, is agreeable to the original unchangeable intent of 
 the Creator, who being essential good and truth in most 
 perfect union, desires all the recipient subjects thereof to 
 become images and likenesses of himself. 
 
 That the Scriptures represent heaven as a state of mar- 
 riage, is plain from those places where the Lord is spoken 
 of as a Bridegroom or Husband, and the church as his bride 
 or wife ; as from the following : " The marriage of the Lamb 
 is come, and Ms wife hath made herself ready. Blessed are 
 they who are called unto the marriage-supper of the Lamb," 
 Apoc. xix. 7, 9. " I John saw the holy city. New Jerusa- 
 lem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a 
 hi'ide adorned for her husband. Come hither, I will shew 
 thee the bride, the Lamb's imfe^ Apoc. xxi. 2, 9. Again, 
 " The kingdom of heaven is like imto a certain king, who 
 made a marriage for his son, and sent forth his servants to 
 call them that were bidden to tiie. wedding^' Matt. xxii. 2, 3. 
 " Then shall the kingdom of heaven be likened unto ten 
 virgins, who took their lamps, and went forth to meet the 
 bridegroom, five of whom went in to the marriage," Matt. 
 XXV. 1 to 10. 
 
 If heaven itself in general be compared to a marriage, 
 why should it seem an improbable thing, that marriages in 
 particular should take place there ? especially as man conti- 
 nues to live as a man after death, the male being still male, 
 and the female still female ? It is indeed supposed by many 
 of the learned, that souls are of no sex : but this is a gross 
 mistake ; for the distinction of sex originates in the soul, 
 and it is that which causes the body to have either the male 
 or female form. The masculine principle consists in this, 
 that love is inmost, whose clothing is wisdom : whereas the 
 feminine principle has the wisdom of the male for it's in-- 
 most, and the love thence derived (being a secondary love) 
 
 L 1 for 
 
266 A VINDICATION OF 
 
 for it's clothing. Thus the female principle is derived from 
 the male, agreeably to what is said in Gen. ii. 23, that the 
 woman was taken out of the man. Now as in all love there 
 is a tendency to conjunction, and as the male and female 
 were so created that they two may become one flesh, that 
 is, one man as it were, or one angel, there being a con- 
 junctive principle in every part of their constitution, it fol- 
 lows, that in every stage of existence this tendency to union 
 must be gratified, and consequently that there are marriages 
 in heaven, where the end of creation is fully accomplished. 
 
 SECTION XIX. 
 
 A scriptural Vieiv of the Rise, Progress, and future 
 Perjection of the Neiv Church, called the New 
 Jerusalem, 
 
 XXAVING now examined the various objections, false 
 charges, and misrepresentations, which Mr. Pike has thought 
 proper to publish against the character and writings of the 
 illustrious and venerable Emanuel Swedenborg ; and having, 
 it is hoped, to the satisfaction of every candid and unpre- 
 judiced reader, shewn, that they are all founded either iu 
 ignorance, envy, or some other perverse disposition of mind ; 
 and that tlie Sacred Scriptures themselves are liable to the 
 same kind of abusive treatment, as that which the heavenly 
 doctrines of the New Jerusalem have experienced ; I shall 
 conclude with a scriptural view of the rise, progress, and 
 future perfection of this New Church, which, notwithstand- 
 ing all the opposition it may have to encounter, must finally 
 prevail, and be established on the earth, agreeably to the 
 
 word of infallible prophecy. 
 
 In 
 
EMANUEL SWEDENBORGS WRITINGS. 267 
 
 In the xxivth chapter of Matthev/ the Lord describes 
 the successive declension of the Christian church, until it 
 should arrive at it's full period and consummation. He tnen 
 foretels, that he will come again in the clouds of heaven in 
 the character of Son of Man : by which is meant, that he 
 will appear as divine truth, and make his Word compre- 
 hensible and intelligible to the human mind, even in those 
 parts which were heretofore sealed up in darkness and pro- 
 found mystery. But in the Apocalypse the final state of the 
 church is more particularly described, together with the 
 judgment which it would bring upon itself, and the com* 
 mencement of a New Church under the name and character 
 of the New Jerusalem. This New Church is described in 
 chap. xxi. 10 to 24, as a great and holy city coming down 
 from God out of heaven ; equal in it's length, breadth, and. 
 height; having a wall of jasper great and high, with twelve 
 foundations set with all manner of precious stones ; twelve 
 gates of pearl under the charge of twelve angels ; the street 
 of the city, and the city itself, pure gold, yet transparent 
 like clear glass ; with no other temple than the Lord God 
 Almighty and the Lamb himself; and needing neither sun 
 nor moon to shine in it, because the glory of (xod doth 
 lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof. 
 
 The New Church, or New Jerusalem, is further repre- 
 sented in the same chapter, under a more interior idea, as 
 the Bride and \Yife of the Lamb ; being called a Bride in 
 reference to her state of preparation to receive the Lord, 
 and a Wife in reference to her actual conjunction with him. 
 That this church will be established on earth, and that it will 
 in due time constitute the crown and glory of all churches, 
 which have heretofore existed since the creation of the world, 
 cannot for a moment be doubted, because the fcScriptures of 
 divine truth, from beginning to end, are continually point- 
 ing to it, and holding it up as the completion of all prophecy. 
 It's commencement is announced by Daniel in these words : 
 ** In the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up 
 a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed: and the king- 
 
 L 1 2 dom 
 
268 A VINDICATION OF 
 
 dom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break iif 
 pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand 
 for ever," Dan. ii. 44. The same prophet says in another 
 place, " I saw in the night-visions, and behold, One like the 
 Son of Man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to 
 the Ancient of Days, and they brought him near before him. 
 And there was given him dominion, and glory, and a king- 
 dom, that all people, nations, and languages, should serve 
 him : his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall 
 not pass away, and his kingdom that which shall not be de- 
 stroyed," Dan. vii. 13, 14. That this prophecy of Daniel 
 refers to the present time, is evident from what is said in 
 chap. xii. 4, 9, 11 ; and from the Lord's words in Matt, 
 xxiv. 15, 30. The like is said in the Apocalypse : " And 
 the seventh angel sounded, and there were great voices in 
 heaven, saying. The kingdoms of this world are become the 
 kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ, and he shall reign 
 for ever and ever," Apoc. xi. 15. 
 
 The progress, perfection, and glory of the same church 
 are also described by other prophets in the manner follow- 
 ing : " For Zion's sake I will not hold my peace, and for 
 Jerusalem's sake I will not rest, until the righteousness 
 thereof go forth as brightness, and the salvation thereof 
 as a lamp that burneth. And the gentiles shall see thy 
 righteousness, and all kings thy glory: and thou shalt be 
 called by a new name, which the mouth of Jehovah shall 
 name. Thou shalt also be a crown of glory in the hand of 
 Jehovah, and a royal diadem in the hand of thy God," Isa. 
 Ixii. 1 to 3. " Thus saith Jehovah, I am returned unto Zion, 
 and will dwell in the midst of Jerusalem, and Jerusalem shall 
 be called a city of truth ; and the mountain of Jehovah of 
 hosts, the holy mountain," Zech. viii. 3. Lastly, " I heard 
 a great voice out of heaven, saying, Behold, the tabernacle 
 of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they 
 shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, 
 and be their God," Apoc. xxi. 3. 
 
 SECTION 
 
EMANUEL SWEDENBORg's WRITINGS. 269 
 
 SECTION XX. 
 
 JBrief Remarks 07i the rash Censure passed on JBaron 
 Sivedenhorg and his Writings hy the Editors of 
 the Evangelical Magazine. 
 
 JSOON after the publication of Mr. Pike's pamphlet, en- 
 titled, " Sivedenhorgianism depicted in it's true Colours," &c. 
 the Editors of the Evangelical Magazine, for January 1821, 
 in their character of reviewers, offered the following remarks 
 to the public. 
 
 *' We confess, that we are not much acquainted with the 
 "writings of the visionary Baron, nor have we the authorities 
 to compare : but if Mr. P. has quoted fairly, which we see 
 no reason to doubt, it is not easy to find two systems more 
 opposite, than those of the Scriptures and the New Jerusalem 
 Church. On the question of the trinity, the disciples of 
 Swedenborg appear to be Sabelliaus ; and Socinians on the 
 atonement. As to the Baron himself, we have no suspicion 
 of his being an impostor ; but we think, that he had studied 
 spiritual senses and mystical meanings, till they turned his 
 brain ; and it is wonderful to us, tliat any person in his sober 
 senses can be the disciple of such a man." 
 
 These are the observations of gentlemen, who profess 
 to give to their readers a candid and fair account of the 
 subject matter contained in such new publications, as they 
 may think proper to notice. They first of all confess, that 
 they are not much acquainted with the writings of the Baron, 
 and yet immediately pronounce him to be a mere visionary. 
 They have probably been told as much, or they take for gospel 
 all the calumnies propagated by Mr. Pike and others : but 
 that is quite sufficient authority for them as reviewers to 
 decide upon the character and doctrines of a man, of whom, 
 after all they have heard or read, it is evident from their own 
 
 shewing, 
 
270 A VINDICATION OF 
 
 shewing, they still know nothing at all. " If (say they) Mr« 
 Pike has quoted fairly, which they see no reason to doubt, it 
 is not easy to find two systems more opposite, than those of 
 the Scriptures and the New Jerusalem Church." Yes, I can 
 inform them of two, in which the opposition is infinitely 
 greater than in those they name ; their own doctrines, the 
 Calvinistic tenets concerning predestination, election, and 
 reprobation, form a contrast with the true and genuine sense 
 of the Holy Word, which no ingenuity can ever reconcile : 
 for while the Word extends the possibility of salvation to all 
 men, Ezek. xxxiii. 11. Isa. xlv. 22. John iii. 17, the rigid 
 Calvinist or Predestinariau cruelly maintains, " That God 
 hath created the greatest part of mankind for eternal da?ntia- 
 tion, and is univilling that they should be converted and live." 
 Form. Concord, p. 837. Hell itself is not more contrary to 
 heaven, than this last detestable sentiment is to the mercy 
 that beams through every part of the Sacred Scriptures, when 
 rightly understood. Yet Evangelical Reviewers are to be 
 found, who can tolerate, cherish, and applaud such blas- 
 phemy ! Did the venerable and enlightened Swedenborg ever 
 give birth to such daring impiety ? or can a single expression 
 be pointed out in all his voluminous writings, that has the 
 least tendency to traduce the character of his God, or to 
 bring dishonour on his Holy Word ? Nothing of the kind is 
 to be found either in his works, or in the doctrines of the 
 New Church. With what justice, then, or consistency, can 
 it be said, that no two systems are more opposed to each 
 other, than those of the Scriptures and the New Jerusalem 
 Church ? 
 
 But the Reviewers proceed to assert, that " on the ques- 
 tion of the trinity, the disciples of Swedenborg appear to be 
 Sabellians, and Sociuians on the atonement." Two distinct 
 charges are here made, which require a few observations. 
 With respect to the first, it may be proper to remark, that it 
 is not known with certainty what were the doctrines taught by 
 Sabellius and his followers in the third century : for his own 
 ■writings are lost, and we have only the report of his enemies 
 
 concerning 
 
EMANUEL SWEDENBORGS WRITINGS. 271 
 
 concerning them. But even admitting that their statement 
 of his .doctrines is a just one, although at first sight Sabel- 
 lianism and the doctrine of the New Church may appear to 
 be the same, yet on examination they will be found widely 
 dift'ereat. For in the first place, though Sabellius acknow- 
 ledged that Jesus Christ was God, and that the whole trinity 
 was included in his person, which in itself is a great truth, 
 yet he supposed, that God the Father descended with all 
 his fulness of glory, and became incarnate as to his whole 
 Divinity at once ; that is, as well with respect to the divine 
 good as to the divine truth. Whereas the New Church 
 teaches, that he descended more especially as to the divine 
 truthy which is the Word, John i. 4, 14. Chap. viii. 12. 
 Chap. xiv. 6 ; and not so much as to the divine good, al- 
 though this latter was not, and could not be, separate from 
 the former, John viii. 29. Chap. xiv. 10, 11. Chap. xvi. 32. 
 And it is in consequence of this distinction between divine 
 truth and divine good, that the Lord so often says of himself, 
 that he descended or came forth from the Father, and that 
 again he was about to ascend or return hack to the Father. 
 But if the doctrine of Sabellius were true, then there could 
 have been no descending, no coming forth from the Father, 
 in the true scriptural sense of the expressions, nor again any 
 ascent or return to the Father ; seeing that what is properly 
 signified by the Father, namely, divine good, or the essential 
 Divinity, would also, on such a supposition, have descended 
 and ascended together with the Son ; when yet the Scriptures 
 uniformly represent the Son or divine truth as descending 
 from the Father or divine good, and again ascending or re- 
 turning to him. Here then we find a most essential distinc- 
 tion between Sabellianism and the heavenly doctrine of the 
 New Jerusalem ; and readily perceive, that notwithstanding 
 the resemblance, which at first sight they may be supposed 
 to bear to each other, yet in reality the one is a deviation 
 from the true sense of Scripture, while the other is perfectly 
 consistent with it. 
 
 In 
 
272 A VINDICATION OF 
 
 In the next place Sabellius made no distinction between 
 the Divine Humanity, which is the proper person of the 
 Father, and the Infirm HumaniUj, which was derived from 
 the mother : thus supposing the latter infirm Humanity to be 
 the proper body or form of Jehovah, he of necessity ran into 
 the error of the Pairipassians, who (as the term signifies) 
 imagined that the Father himself suflfered hunger, thirst, buf- 
 fettings, crucifixion, and death. Whereas the New Church 
 most strenuously maintains the distinction between the Divine 
 Humanity from the Father, and the infirm Humanity from 
 the mother ; and teaches, that this latter only, being like the 
 humanity of another man, could be the subject of sufferings 
 and death ; while the former, or Divine Humanity, was, like 
 the Father or essential Divinity itself, ever incapable of both. 
 Such again is the immense difference between Sabellianism 
 and the heavenly doctrine of the New Jerusalem ; not to 
 mention several other particulars, wherein they are by no 
 means agreed. But the instances of disagreement above 
 stated are sufficient to obviate the objection, which has been 
 urged by the Editors of the Evangelical Magazine, and to 
 verify, in a striking manner, those divine words in the apos- 
 tolic prophecy, which refer to the commencement of the New 
 Jerusalem Church, " Behold, I make all things new" Apoc, 
 xxi. 5. 
 
 With respect to the second charge brought by the said 
 Evangelical Editors against the members of the New Church, 
 that on the question of the atonement they are Socinians, it 
 is to the last degree frivolous and ridiculous ; for at this rate 
 a man may be any thing, every thing, and nothing, at the 
 same time ; if he believe in one God, he may be a Catholic, 
 a Protestant, a Quaker, a Unitarian, a Jew, a Mahometan, 
 an angel, or even a devil ; for " devils believe and tremble," 
 James ii. 19 : nay, these worthy gentlemen themselves may 
 on the same principle be members of the New Jerusalem, 
 which perhaps is " a consummation" not very devoutly 
 wished for by them. Well, but " the disciples of Sweden- 
 
 borg 
 
EMANUEL SWEDENBORG's AVRITINGS. 273 
 
 borg appear to be Sociuians on the atonement!" If my 
 pen were capable of laughing at the conceit, while employed 
 in transcribing the sentence, I never should be able to keep 
 it steady. Surely the wise men of Gotham (*) have all de- 
 serted their village, and migrated to London, in order to 
 become Editors of the Evangelical Magazine ! The mem- 
 bers of the New Church are ranked as Socinians, because 
 they deny the vulgar and unscriptural doctrine of one God 
 dying to pacify the wrath of another ; as if a Socinian derived 
 his name merely from his opposition to that gross error, and 
 Hot from his being a follower of Socinus in denying the 
 divinity of Jesus Christ. Under this view of the subject, 
 the Editors of the Evangelical Magazine may be charged 
 with being themselves Socinians, and Socinians of the worst 
 description, because while they profess to acknowledge the 
 divinity of the Saviour, they are actually engaged in under- 
 mining, dividing, and destroying it. They deny, for ex- 
 ample, that Jesus Christ is the supreme God, which is the 
 same thing as denying him to be God at all: and as the 
 heathens, by multiplying their Gods, or as Trinitarians would 
 say, their Divine Persons, erected an imaginary Pantheon, 
 and divided among scores, nay hundreds, what exclusively 
 belonged to one, and thus in effect robbed every one of them 
 of entire and proper Divinity, so these Editors of the Evan- 
 gelical Magazine, setting up a little Pantheon of only three 
 Gods, or three Divine Persons, who share among them what- 
 ever attributes their makers please to allot thein, do in reality 
 nullify their own pretensions, and rob the Saviour of his ex- 
 clusive Divinity, which is virtually the same thing as denying 
 him to be God in any respect whatever. 
 
 Of all characters or denominations (with the exception 
 of the rigid Predestinarian) that of a Socinian is perhaps the 
 
 most 
 
 (*) Gotham is a village in Nottinghamshire, the inbabitaDts of which were 
 in former times celebrated for the wisdom of their sayings, in other words, for the 
 fopperies and fooleries, which were unsparingly fathered upon theia. Hence the 
 proverb, As luise as a Man of Gotham, 
 
 M m 
 
274 A VINDICATION OF 
 
 most distant from being a true representation of the New 
 Church, the members of which, so far from agreeing Avith 
 Socinus or his followers in regarding Jesus Christ as a mere 
 man like themselves, do actually acknowledge him as the one 
 only God of heaven and earth, the Creator, Redeemer, and 
 Saviour of mankind, besides whom there never was, nor can 
 be, any Divine Being. Hov/ then can the Editors of the 
 Evangelical Magazine presume to say, in defiance of common 
 sense and reason, that they, who believe in the sole and 
 exclusive divinity of Jesus Christ, are to be ranked with 
 those, who deny him to be even a participator in the divine 
 attributes ? Never was consummate ignorance more plainly 
 exemplified. Yet these are the men, forsooth, who set them- 
 selves up for reviewers — for judges — for arbitrators, in a 
 cause they have never examined, and consequently have 
 never understood ! 
 
 Some degree of candour, however, they have evinced, 
 in acknowledging, that " as to the Baron himself, they have 
 no suspicion of his being an impostor." But this sugar-plum 
 is deprived of it's sweetness by the vinegar mingled with gall 
 in which it is steeped : for they immediately add as their 
 opinion, that " he had studied spiritual senses and mystical 
 meanings till they turned his brain;" and they express their 
 surprize, " that any person in his sober senses can be the 
 disciple of such a man." Here the Editors plainly enough 
 shew the contempt they entertain for the spiritual or mystical 
 sense of the Sacred Scriptures, forgetting or disregarding 
 the Lord's own declaration, that the words he uttered had 
 such a sense, John vi. 63; forgetting or disregarding again 
 the distinct notice that is taken of the parables and dark 
 sayings oi ix\xi\(\m\,y, Ps. xhx. 4. Ps. Ixxviii. 2. Dan. viii. 23. 
 Matt. xiii. 35; the mysteries belonging to the kingdom of 
 heaven, Matt. xiii. 11. Mark iv. 11 ; the mystery of the 
 seven stars, Apoc. i. 20; the mystery of God, Apoc. x. 7; 
 the mystery of Babylon the great, and of the beast which 
 hath seven heads and ten horns, Apoc. xvii. 5, 7: not to 
 mention numerous passages in the writings of Paul, wherein 
 
 he 
 
EMANUEL SWEDENBORG S WRITINGS. 275 
 
 he speaks of the mystery of God, the mystery of Christ, the 
 mystery of the gospel, the mystery of godliness, the mystery 
 of faith, the mystery hid from ages, &c. &c. In all these 
 cases by a mystery is meant something hidden from common 
 view, something enshrined and covered by the literal expres- 
 sion, so as to secure it from violation and profanation by 
 those, who are not prepared to receive the interior spiritual 
 truths, of which the mystery consists. And it is singular, 
 that persons professing to speak of the wisdom of God in a 
 mystery, even his hidden wisdom, 1 Cor. ii. 7, and to act as 
 stewards of such mystery, chap. iv. 1, should yet be so 
 thoughtless, or else so ignorant, so perfectly unacquainted 
 with the duties of the office, to which as Editors of a work 
 called Evangelical they have presumed to aspire, as to repro- 
 bate and consign to ridicule what the best and most en- 
 lightened men of every age have so highly esteemed. 
 
 One word more with these (soi-disant) Evangelical men, 
 and I have done with them I hope for ever. They think it a 
 matter of astonishment, that " any person in his sober senses 
 can be the disciple of such a man as Swedenborg." If by a 
 disciple of Swedenborg they understand one who embraces 
 the great doctrines which are so clearly laid down in his 
 writings, and confirmed by the undeniable testimony of the 
 Sacred Scriptures, then I reply to their iUiberal insinuation, 
 that no greater proof can possibly be given of sobriety of 
 character, and soundness of judgment, than the rational per- 
 ception and candid avowal of those very doctrines which they 
 condemn. And I will go farther, and say, that after the 
 length of time which has elapsed since the first promulgation 
 of the heavenly doctrines of the New Jerusalem, it is a dis- 
 grace for any minister or public teacher of religion in this 
 country to be unacquainted with them. Let the doctrines of 
 Swedenborg be compared with those of Calvin, Luther, or 
 any other leader in the church, either of ancient or modern 
 times, and so far from suffering thereby in the estimation of 
 any man of reason and " sober sense," they will be found to 
 surpass them all in real wisdom and utility : they are more 
 
 M m 2 consistent 
 
276 A VINDICATION OF 
 
 consistent with Scripture, more truly rational in themselves, 
 and calculated to produce infinitely more benefit to society at 
 large, than those meagre, partial, pharisaical systems, which 
 have too long degraded and afflicted the Christian world, 
 under the names of their respective authors. 
 
 The Editors of the Evangelical Magazine consider it 
 a proof of mental derangement to embrace and avow the 
 doctrines taught by Emanuel Swedenborg, but a mark of 
 wisdom to adopt those professed by Calvin. Now, inde- 
 pendently of the personal characters of the two men here 
 named, the former of whom never consented to the burning 
 of a reputed heretic, as the latter did, let us advert to the 
 general character of their respective systems. Swedenborg 
 teaches, that there is only One God, whose mercy is ex- 
 tended to all of the human race without exception, whether 
 they be Christians, Jews, Mahometans, or Pagans ; and that 
 he has provided for each such means of salvation, as are best 
 suited to their peculiar state and condition. Calvin, on the 
 other hand, and these Evangelical Reviewers, who are his 
 disciples, maintain, that there are no less than three Gods, 
 called by them three Divine Persons ; that the first in his wrath 
 sentenced the whole race of mankind to eternal damnation, 
 but that the second in part appeased that wrath by offering 
 himself as a sacrifice, nfet in behalf of all who were so con- 
 demned, but only of a few called the elect, the rest still 
 continuing children of wrath, according to the decree issued 
 against them before they were born. (*) And as this docti'ine 
 is manifestly opposed to certain parts of the Scripture, while 
 it has the appearance of being countenanced by others, if s 
 advocates have hit upon an expedient (such as it is) to re- 
 concile their own minds to the difficulty. They assert, that 
 God has a secret ivill, distinct from his revealed tvill ; that by 
 the former will he has chosen some out of the human race to 
 
 be 
 
 (*) Calvin's own words, in speaking of reprobation, are these : Ideo (reprobi) 
 Dei judicio suscitati sunt, ad gloriam ejus sva damnalione illustrandom." Calvin, 
 Inst. 1. iii. c. xxiv. 14. That is, " The reprobate are raised up by the judgment 
 of God, for the purpose of manifesting his glory in their damnation." 
 
EMANUEL SWEDENBORG's WRITINGS. 277 
 
 be saved, while the rest are left without mercy to perish 
 eternall}^; and that by the latter will, which is plainly de- 
 clared in his Word, he calls upon all men to repent, and 
 offers them salvation, although he knows, and has previously 
 determined by his secret will, that they never shall repent, 
 and never shall be saved. Thus they represent God as a 
 double-minded Being, pi'ofessing outwardly by his revealed 
 will or Word, what by his secret will or purpose he never 
 intended ; by the one will inviting men to repent of their sins, 
 and turn to him, that they may be saved, and by the other 
 will refusing them the power of complying with the invitation, 
 that they may be damned. In such case, of what use is the 
 revealed will to the miserable wretches, who are the subjects 
 of pre-determined reprobation ? Can it have any other pur- 
 pose, but to deceive and tantalize them with hopes of salva- 
 tion, that can never be realized ? If this be not blasphemy 
 against the Majesty of heaven, it is difficult to say what is. 
 But independently of the wickedness, cruelty, and profane 
 tendency of the doctrine here stated, that God has a secret 
 will distinct from, and in opposition to, his revealed will, 
 how comes it to pass, that both wills are equally known ? A 
 secret, when divulged, is no longer a secret. How then can 
 God have a purpose secret from us, if at the same time we 
 are able to state what that secret purpose is ? The thing 
 speaks for itself: it is a plain contradiction. 
 
 On which side now is to be found the mark of insanity 
 or mental derangement ? on that of Swedenborg, who is al- 
 ways rational, always consistent both with the Sacred Scrip- 
 tures and with himself? or on that of Calvin and his infa- 
 tuated followers, who not content with dividing the form of 
 their God into three parcels, pieces, or persons, have in- 
 vented another division, more detestable and profane, if 
 possible, than any that was ever thought of by the wildest 
 fanatics in ancient or modern times, namely, a division of 
 his essence or ivill into two contrary and opposite determi- 
 nations, the one of which, called his revealed will, offers 
 terms of salvation to all men without exception, and the 
 
 other, 
 
278 A VINDICATION OF 
 
 other, called his secret will, over-rules the pretended designs 
 of universal mercy, and cruelly frustrates the hopes and ex- 
 pectations of the greater part of mankind I Can any person 
 with truth be said to be in his " sober senses," who advo- 
 cates such a doctrine as this ; a doctrine, which consigns to 
 everlasting- misery, even before they are born, myriads and 
 myriads of human beings, who as yet have never offended, 
 and among them an immense multitude of helpless infants, 
 who successively live and die before they possibly can be 
 guilty of any species of crime I It is indeed wonderful, that 
 men of such a description are still to be found in the present 
 advanced state of liberality and intelligence, M'ho can advo- 
 cate, without a blush on their countenances, the visionary, 
 heathenish, and detestable doctrines of predestination, elec- 
 tion, and reprobation. Yet the Editors of a Magazine, 
 falsely called Evanfjelical, (*) have the effrontery not only 
 to do this, but even to revile an author with the base insi- 
 nuation of his being mad, because he honourably, openly, 
 and plainly maintains, in agreement with the Sacred Scrip- 
 tures and with sound reason, 1. The divine unity and divine 
 trinity in one person, and not in three. 2. The identity of 
 the Supreme God with the Saviour of the world Jesus Christ. 
 3. The universality of the redemption wrought by him, which 
 consisted not in the pacification of wrath or fury in another 
 supposed Divine Being, in behalf of a few only of the human 
 race, but in an actual deliverance of mankind at large from 
 the overwhelming power of evil, whereby the salvation of all 
 became possible through repentance, faith, charity, and obe- 
 dience. 
 
 (*) The term Evangelical is derived from a Greek word, which signifies good 
 tidings, or happy and joyful tiews. When the Saviour of mankind was boru in the 
 city of David, the angel of the Lord said unto the shepherds in the neighbourhood, 
 "Behold, I hr'wg you good tidings of great joy, which shall he to all people," Luke 
 ii. 10 : evidently announcing, that the redemption, which was to be wroHght by the 
 Child then born, v/otild be universal, &nA not partial ; for otherwise his birth could 
 not be matter of joy to all, but only to a few of the people, called the elect. No 
 system or doctrine, therefore, which thus limits the extent of redeeming love, and 
 denies that the divine mercy has provided means for the salvation of all men, de- 
 serves to be called Evangelical, or to bear the name of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, 
 
EMANUEL SWEDENBORGS WRITINGS. 279 
 
 dience. 4. The spiritual sense of the Sacred Scriptures, by 
 virtue of which it is holy and divine in every expression, 
 agreeably to the declaration of the Lord, where he says, 
 " The words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and 
 they are life^ John vi. 63. 
 
 The avowal of sentinlents like these, as it has already 
 drawn upon the noble Baron the severest personal reflections, 
 may possibly subject those who are called his disciples to the 
 same kind of reproach. But the progress of truth is not 
 to be arrested in this way ; neither are men now-a-days to be 
 deterred, either by the fulminations of a priest, or by the 
 pointless censures of an Evangelical Reviewer, from the just 
 exercise of their own unbiassed judgment in matters so es- 
 sentially connected with their best interests, as the heavenly 
 doctrines of the New Jerusalem are known to be. Free 
 discussion is invited, for truth cannot suffer by the closest 
 investigation : and if the inquiry be conducted without un- 
 reasonable prejudice or partiality, from a sincere desire to 
 profit by a right knowledge of the doctrines in question, after 
 the manner directed in John vii. 16, the result in all proba- 
 bility will be a powerful conviction in the mind that they 
 are in truth and reality derived from heaven. This however 
 is certain, because it is plainly revealed in the Holy Word, 
 that, in spite of all the floods of water which dragons or 
 serpents may cast after the woman, Apoc. xii. 15, in spite 
 of all the persecutions which men or devils may raise against 
 the New Church, she will yet be protected and preserved by 
 the Divine Providence, will yet gradually advance in wis- 
 dom, love, and perfection, and be enlarged by the continu- 
 ally increasing number of her professors, (among whom will 
 be found men of every station or rank in life, princes and 
 peasants, lords and commoners, learned and unlearned, wise 
 and simple, high and low, rich and poor,) until she become 
 " the glory of all lands," Ezek. xx. 6, 15 ; " an eternal ex- 
 cellency, the joy of many generations," Isa. Ix. 15 ; "a 
 crown of glory in the hand of Jehovah, and a royal diadem 
 in the hand of her God," Isa. I xii. 3. For thus saith Jeho- 
 vah. 
 
•280 A VINDICATION OF 
 
 vail, " The sons of strangers shall build up thy walls, and 
 their kings shall minister unto thee. Therefore thy gates 
 shall be open continually ; they shall not be shut day nor 
 night, that men may bring unto thee the forces of the Gen- 
 tiles, and that their kings may be brought. For the nation 
 and kingdom, that will not serve thee, shall perish ; yea, 
 those nations shall be utterly wasted. Thy sun shall no more 
 go down, neither shall thy moon withdraw itself: for Jehovah 
 shall be thine everlasting light, and the days of thy mourning 
 shall be ended. Thy people also shall be all righteous : they 
 shall inherit the land for ever, the branch of my planting, the 
 work of my hands, that I may be glorified. A little one 
 shall become a thousand, and a small one a strong nation : 
 I Jehovah will hasten it in it's time," Isa. Ix. 10 to 12, 20 
 to 22. " And many nations shall come and say, Come, let 
 us go up to the mountain of Jehovah, and to the house of 
 the God of Jacob, and he will teach us of his ways, and 
 we will walk in his paths : for the law shall go forth out of 
 Zion, and the word of Jehovah from Jerusalem," Micah 
 iv. 2. Isa. ii. 3. 
 
 SECTION XXI. 
 
 Chief Articles of the Faith of the Netv Church, 
 called the Netv Jerusalem. 
 
 X^ OR the information of those, who are disposed to make 
 further inquiry into the nature and tendency of the heavenly 
 doctrines of the New Jerusalem, yet have not hitherto had 
 an opportunity of consulting the theological writings of that 
 illustrious and enlightened servant of the Lord, Emanuel 
 
 Sweden- 
 
EMANUEL SWEDENBORGS WRITINGS. 281 
 
 S.wedenborg- ; and likewise with a view to guard such against 
 the misrepresentations and false reports which are too fre- 
 quently propagated concerning them by bigotted and design- 
 ing men ; it has been suggested to the mind of the writer of 
 the preceding pages, to subjoin, in the way of a Coronis or 
 Crown to his w^rk, the chief articles of the faith professed 
 and embraced by the members of the New Church. Let 
 them be well examined, and they will be found to accord 
 in every respect with the genuine and undoubted sense of 
 the Sacred Scriptures, which are the only original source, 
 from which they are taken, and the only standard by which 
 every doctrine of the church ought to be tried. " To the 
 law, and to the testimony : if men speak not according to 
 this word, it is because there is no light in them," Isa. viii. 
 20. By the help of sound doctrine, which consists in the 
 genuine truths of the Word, the difficulties attending the 
 literal sense are in a thousand instances removed ; apparent 
 inconsistencies and contradictions are reconciled ; the divine 
 person, character, and attributes of the Supreme Being are 
 satisfactorily seen in heavenly light ; his dealings with man- 
 kind, his fallen, helpless creatures, are fully vindicated ; his 
 never-ceasing care and providence over all the works of his 
 hands are acknowledged ; and his Word, as the great me- 
 dium of man's conjunction with heaven, and his final salva- 
 tion, is magnified above every other name, Ps. cxxxviii. 2. 
 By the same doctrine also man is instructed in the various 
 duties, which he is called upon to perform while in the na- 
 tural world ; and he is taught, that whatever may be the 
 fixed quality of his spirit, formed not by a few particular 
 actions, but by the whole course and tenour of his life, whe- 
 ther good or evil, such will it remain in another state of 
 being to eternity. The subjects comprized in the following 
 articles are, therefore, of the utmost importance ; and it is 
 under this impression and conviction, that they are now 
 submitted to the attentive consideration of the reader. 
 
 N n ARTICLES 
 
282 A VINDICATIOxV OF 
 
 ARTICLES OF FAITH. 
 
 The heavenly doctrines of the New Jerusalem teach, 
 
 I. That Jehovah God, the Creator and Preserver of 
 heaven and earth, is a Being of infinite love, wisdom, and 
 power ; that he is One both in essence and in person, in 
 whom nevertheless is a divine trinity, consisting of Father, 
 Son, and Holy Spirit, like soul, body, and operation in man ; 
 and that the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ is that God. 
 
 II. That Jehovah God himself came down from heaven 
 as divine truth, which is the Word, and took upon him human 
 nature, for the purpose of subduing and removing the powers 
 of darkness, of restoring the spiritual world to order, of pre- 
 paring the way for a new church upon earth, and thus of 
 accomplishing the great work of redemption : That through 
 the process of sufferings and temptations he also glorified 
 his Humanity, by uniting it with his essential Divinity ; and 
 that all who believe in him from the heart, with the under- 
 standing, and in the life, will be saved. 
 
 III. That the Word of the Lord, or Sacred Scripture, 
 was written by divine inspiration ; that it contains an inter- 
 nal spiritual sense for the use of angels in heaven, and an 
 external natural sense for the use of men upon earth ; and 
 that in each sense it is holy and divine. Now since the 
 Lord and his Word are one, and. since thereby man is con- 
 joined to heaven, it is highly necessary, that the genuine 
 books of the Word be distinguished from all other writings 
 whatever. The following, therefore, are acknowledged as 
 constituting the perfect and complete Canon of Holy 
 Scripture : In the Old Testament, the five books of Moses, 
 called Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy ; 
 the book of Joshua, the book of Judges, the two books of 
 Samuel, the two books of Kings, the Psalms of David, the 
 
 Prophets 
 
EMANUEL SWEDENBORGS WRITINGS. 283 
 
 Prophets Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations, Ezekiel, Daniel, 
 Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Ha- 
 bakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi : And in 
 the New Testament, the four Evangelists, Matthew, Mark, 
 Luke, John ; and the Apocalypse. 
 
 IV. That all evils, whether of affection, of thought, or 
 of life, ought to be shunned as sins against God, because 
 they proceed from the devil, that is, from hell, and destroy 
 in man the capacity of enjoying the happiness of heaven. 
 But that, on the other hand, good affections, good thoughts, 
 and good actions, ought to be cherished and performed, 
 because they are of God, and from God ; and that every act of 
 love and charity, of justice and equity, both towards society 
 in general, and towards individuals in particular, ought to 
 be done by man as of himself, nevertheless under the acknow- 
 ledgment and belief, that they are really and truly from the 
 Lord, operating in him and by him. 
 
 V. That man, during his abode in the world, is kept in 
 a state of spiritual equilibrium between heaven and hell, or 
 good and evil, in consequence of which he enjoys free-will in 
 spiritual as well as natural things, and has the capacity either 
 of turning himself to the Lord, or of separating himself from 
 the Lord ; that so far as he does the work of repentance, and 
 lives in charity according to the truths of faith, so far his sins 
 are remitted, that is to say, so far his evils are removed ; and 
 in the same proportion also he is regenerated, or created 
 anew, by the Lord. 
 
 VI. That man is not life in himself, but only a recipient 
 of life from the Lord, who alone is life in himself ^ which life 
 is communicated by influx to all in the spiritual world, whether 
 in heaven or in hell, or in the intermediate state called the 
 world of spirits ; but is received differently by each, accord- 
 ing to the quality of the recipient sulyect. 
 
 K u 2 VII. 
 
284 A VINDICATION OF 
 
 VII. That adequate means of salvation are, l)y the di- 
 vine mercy and providence of the Lord, extended to all of the 
 human race without exception ; and consequently that men of 
 every persuasion or denomination upon the face of the earth, 
 whether they be Christians, Jews, Mahometans, or Pagans, 
 may be saved, if they live in mutual love and charity from 
 religious motives, according to the best of their knowledge 
 and understanding. But that nevertheless the new and true 
 Christian religion, inasmuch as it is more immediately derived 
 from our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, who is the One 
 Only God of heaven and earth, is of all religions the most 
 capable of effecting close and intimate conjunction with him ; 
 and on that account is to be esteemed more excellent, more 
 heavenly, and more divine, than any other. 
 
 VIII. That every event or occurrence in human life, 
 whether of prosperity or of adversity, is under the immediate 
 superintendance and direction of the Divine Providence; 
 and that nothing does or can befal man, either in his col- 
 lective or in his individual capacity, but what even in the 
 most minute, as well as in the more important circumstances 
 attending it, is made to contribute, in a way known only to 
 Infinite Wisdom, to the final benefit and advantage of those 
 who love and obey the Lord. 
 
 IX. That immediately on the death of the material body, 
 (which will never be re-assumed,) man rises again as to his 
 spiritual or substantial body, wherein he exists in a perfect 
 human form, with every faculty which he before enjoyed ; 
 and that his eternal state, as to happiness or misery hereafter, 
 will altogether depend on the quality of his past life, whether 
 it has been good or evil. 
 
 X. But that, with respect to children, dying before 
 they come to the use of reason, and the exercise of their 
 own judgment, all such, whether baptized or unbaptized, 
 
 whether 
 
EMANUEL SWEDENBORg's WRITINGS. 285 
 
 whether within the Christian church or without it, and whe- 
 ther they be the offspring- of godly or of ungodly parents, are 
 received into heaven by the Lord, and after instruction, or 
 improvement in understanding and wisdom, participate in all 
 the happiness and perfection of angels. 
 
 XI. Tiiat there is not in the universal heaven a single 
 angel that was created such at first, nor a single devil in all 
 hell, that had been created an angel of light, and was after- 
 wards cast out of heaven ; but that all both in heaven and in 
 hell are of the human race, in heaven such as had lived in 
 the world in heavenly love and faith, and in hell such as had 
 lived altogether according to the principles of self-love and 
 the love of the world. 
 
 XII. That true conjugial love, which can only exist 
 between one husband and one wife, is a primary characteristic 
 of the New Church, being grounded in the marriage or con- 
 junction of good and truth, and corresponding with the mar- 
 riage of the Lord and his church ; and therefore it is more 
 celestial, spiritual, holy, pure, and clean, than any other love 
 in angels or men. 
 
 XIII. That baptism and the holy supper are sacraments 
 of divine institution ; baptism being an external sign of in- 
 troduction into the church, and representing the purification 
 and regeneration of man ; and the holy supper being an ex- 
 ternal medium, to those who receive it worthily, of introduc- 
 tion into heaveii, and:! coni<irictidnvvi,tk ,the Lord, of which 
 also it is a sigji 5ii^d„spal '..•.;:,; 
 
 XIV. That thp ,l?ist, judgment, so frequently spoken of 
 in the Gospels, aiid ](» ttio A.'>Q*3£>lyp!;6, being a separation of 
 the evil from the good in the spiritual world, where hereto- 
 fore they had been collected and mixed in society together, 
 from the time of the Lord's first advent into the world till the 
 time of his second advent, was actually accomplished in the 
 
 year 
 
286 A VINDICATION, &C. 
 
 year 1757 ; when the former heaven and the former earth, or 
 the Old Church, passed away according to the Scriptures, 
 and the foundation of a New Church was laid, wherein all 
 things are become new. 
 
 XV. That therefore, as an act of divine mercy towards 
 the human race, which would otherwise have perished in 
 eternal death, the second advent of the Lord has already 
 taken place, and still continues in the present day ; being a 
 coming, not in person, but in the power and glory of the 
 spiritual sense of his Holy Word, as demonstrated in the 
 theological writings of his servant Emanuel Swedenborg : 
 And thus that the holy city. New Jerusalem, is now descend- 
 ing from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for 
 her Husband. 
 
 FINIS. 
 
 H. & R. Smith, Printers, 
 St. Ann's-square, Manchester. 
 
( 287 ) 
 
 UST OF SUBSCRIBERS. 
 
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 Tyne. 
 
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 copies. 
 
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 B 
 
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 ley, Yor't^shir*;. / , 
 
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 Mr. John Clifton, Preston. 
 
 .Samuel Clinton, Birmingham. 
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 chester, two copies. 
 Mr. Cobham, London, two copies. 
 
 George Cooks, London, four copies. 
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 ^ , P^hilip Cowley, Liverpool. 
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 % ' Cook, -L^ndcu. 
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 Mr. John Darbishire, Manchester. 
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288 
 
 LIST OF SUBSCRIBERS. 
 
 Mrs. Ruth Denton, Newcastle-upon- 
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 E 
 
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 A Friend, four copies. 
 
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 copies. 
 
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 John Graham, Kewca^tleupaxi^ 
 Tyne. ^ , " - . 
 
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 H 
 
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 near Ormskirk. 
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 ton Society, ten copies. 
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 Hurd, London. 
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 Mr. Nathaniel Isbister, Edinborgh. 
 
 J 
 
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 upon-Tyne. 
 Mr. James, Loudon. 
 R. JoUiffe, Derby. 
 William JoUiffe, Derby. 
 S. JoUifFe, Derby, two copies. 
 Rev. Richard Jones, Manchester, three 
 
 copies. 
 Mr. Thomas Jones, London, two ctpies. 
 
 Mr. Robert Kendal, Liverpool. 
 
 Kevs Derby. 
 Mrs. D.'r:11^, Hull. 
 Mr. J. King, Hull, eight copies. 
 : 'KvigiCw, Brii-tol. 
 
 Mr. Laacasterv London. 
 
 Hijbard. tangton, Manchester. 
 
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 Ralph Leigh, Manchester. 
 
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LIST OF SUBSCRIBERS. 
 
 28^ 
 
 >!»•• R- Light, LoiuloD, two copies. 
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 chester, four copiex. 
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 copies. 
 Joseph Locskett, Halhtd, four copies. 
 William Lockett, Manchester, futtr 
 
 cop;es. 
 Thomas Lockett, Salford, two copies. 
 Long, London. 
 Hiss Lant, Bolton. 
 
 M 
 
 Mr. Samuel ^I'Evan, Edinburgh. 
 H. Mackenzie, Derby. 
 M'Nab, London. 
 Rev. Edward Madeley, Derby. 
 Mr. Edward Madeley, Junr. Derby, 
 
 three copies. 
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 J. Malins, London, three copies. 
 W. Malins, London, two copies. 
 F> M. Mallalieu, Bruughton, near 
 
 Manchester. 
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 Tyne. 
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 Lincolnshire. 
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 N 
 
 Mr. Newbery, London. 
 
 New Jerusalem Library in Peter-street, 
 
 Manchester, two copies. 
 New Jerusalem Library at Bolton. 
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 upon-Tyne. 
 New Jerasalem Society at Edinburgh, 
 
 four copies. 
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 two copifs. 
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 O 
 
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 T. Piper, Derby. 
 
 Henry Porter, Manchester. 
 
 Presland, London. 
 
 Price, London. 
 
 G. Prinhard, London, two copies. 
 
 John Prince, Manchester. 
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 R 
 
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 O O 
 
290 
 
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 Sbsw, London. 
 
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 Rev. i\i. Sibly, London. 
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 pies. 
 
 Bishop Simons, Birmingham. 
 
 John Gifford Sleap, London. 
 
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 Sturgeon, London, four copies. 
 
 Mrs. Tait, London. 
 
 Mr. David Taylor, Manchester. 
 
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 Theological Society, Manchester, forf^y 
 
 copies. 
 Mr. William Tickle, Bolton. 
 
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 Mr. John Thompson, Manchester. 
 
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 near Birmingham, four copies. 
 
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LIST OF BOOKS, &c. 
 
 WRITTEN BY 
 
 ROBERT HINDMARSH, 
 
 Minister of the Neiv Jerusalem Temple, Salford, Manchester, 
 AND NOW ON SALE. 
 
 1. A Seal upon the Lips of all those, who refuse to acknowledge 
 
 the Exclusive Divinity of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, 
 published in 13 Numbers, 13s. 
 
 2. A Compendium of the Chief Doctrines of the True Christian 
 
 Religion, or of the New Church, called the New Jerusa- 
 lem, 2s. 6d. 
 
 3. A Key to the Spiritual Signification of Numbers, Weights, 
 
 and Measures, in the Holy Word, 3s. Gd. 
 
 4. The New School of Theology, in Imitation of the Ancient 
 
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 5. Remarks on the Holy League, entered into by Their Majes- 
 
 ties the Emperor of Austria, the King of Prussia, and the 
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 6. A Description of the New Jerusalem Temple in Salford, and 
 
 an Explanation of the four Inscriptions on it's Front With 
 an Engraved View of the Temple, 6d. 
 
 7. A Catechism for the Use of the New Church, Id. 
 
 8. The New Jerusalem Te Deum, or Hymn of Praise to Jesus 
 
 Christ, Id, 
 
 9. A Vindication of the Character and Writings of the Hon. 
 
 Emanuel Swedenborg, against the Slanders, Misrepresen- 
 tations, and false Reports of the Rev. J. G. Pike, of Derby, 
 the late Rev. John Wesley, and the Editors of the Evange- 
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